Garrison,  J.  H.  1842-1931. 
Christian  union 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/christianunionhiOOgarr 


WORKS  BY  J.  H.  GARRISON. 


The  Story  of  a  Century,  Cloth  $1. 

The  Holy  Spirit,  Cloth   1. 

Helps  to  Faith,  Cloth   1. 

Alone  With  God,  Cloth  

Heavenward  Way,  Cloth  •.  ,u 

Half -Hour  Studies  at  the  Cross,  Cloth  75 

A  Modern  Plea  for  Ancient  Truths,  Boards  35 

The  Old  Faith  Restated  (Edited),  Cloth   2.00 

Reformation   of  the  Nineteenth  Century  (Edited), 

Cloth   2.00 

Our  First  Congress  (Edited),  Cloth    1.00 

Kightly  Dividing  the  Word,  Paper  05 

Congregationalists  and  Disciples,  Paper   .15 

Union  and  Victory,  Paper  05 

Higher  Criticism,  Paper    05 

The  Disciples  of  Christ,  Paper  (dozen)  10 

Our  Movement:  Its  Origin  and  Aim,  Paper  10 

A  Nineteenth  Century  Movement,  Paper  10 

The  World's  Need  of  Our  Plea,  Paper  10 


CHRISTIAN  UNION: 


A  HISTORICAL  STUDY 


J.  H.  GARRISON,  LL.  D. 

Editor  Christian-Evangelist. 


"Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  through  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all  speak 
the  same  tiling,  and  that  there  be  no  divisions 
among  you." — Paul. 


CHRISTIAN  -PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


Copyright,  1906. 
Christian  Publishing  Company. 


DEDICATION : 
'J,0  the  Memory  of  Thomas  Campbell,  the  saintly 
pioneer,  who,  in  an  age  of  religious  strife  and 
bitterness,  breathed  the  sweet  spirit  of  peace  and  cath- 
olicity, and  who,  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  lifted 
a  banner  of  unity  which  is  to-day  an  ensign  of  hope 
to  millions  of  longing  souls  who  are  praying  for  a 
united  Church. 


PREFACE 


The  author  of  this  little  volume  has  no 
higher  ambition  in  these  closing  years  of  his 
public  life  than  to  promote  the  unity  and  fel- 
lowship of  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
in  sincerity.  If  he  shall  be  remembered  in 
after  years  by  those  who  shall  come  after  him 
as  one  who  sought  to  remove  prejudice  and 
misunderstanding  among  the  friends  of  Christ, 
and  to  bring  them  closer  together  in  fraternal 
fellowship  and  service,  and  as  one  who,  in  his 
day,  contributed  something  to  the  fulfillment 
of  our  Lord's  prayer  for  the  oneness  of  his 
followers,  he  will  not  have  lived  and  labored 
in  vain.  May  He  whose  beatitude — "Blessed 
are  the  peacemakers,  for  they  shall  be  called 
the  children  of  God" — lias  been  an  inspiration 
in  all  our  labors,  crown  this  humble  plea  for 
the  unity  of  His  disciples  with  His  own  divine 
blessing  and  benediction! 


CONTENTS 


Introduction   13 

I.    The  Apostolic  Age    ....  25 

II.    The  Post -Apostolic  Age     .    .  79 

III.  The  Graeco- Roman  Period  .    .  95 

IV.  The  Protestant  Era    ....  103 
V.    The  Period  of  Reunion  .    .    .  129 


INTRODUCTION 


The  greatest  task  before  the  Church  is 
the  evangelization  and  Christianization  of 
the  world.  The  successful  accomplishment 
of  this  task  involves  the  harmonious  co- 
operation of  the  various  parts  of  the  di- 
vided Church.  Hence  the  supreme  problem 
before  the  Church  is  such  a  unification  of 
its  sundered  parts  as  will  secure  the  need- 
ed co-operation.  The  chief  motive  to  Chris- 
tian union  is  that  it  is  an  essential  condi- 
tion to  the  conversion  of  the  world.  Jesus 
prayed  that  his  disciples  might  be  one, 
"that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast 
sent  me."  This  prayer  of  our  Lord  defines 
both  the  reason  for  Christian  union  and 
the  kind  of  union  he  desires.  The  reason 
is  "that  the  world  may  believe,"  and  the 
kind  of  union  prayed  for  is  that  which  will 
promote  and  hasten  that  end. 

At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
since  its  divisions  have  occurred  has  there 
been  so  deep  and  widespread  interest  on 
the  subject  of  Christian  union  as  there 
is  to-day.  At  ho  time,  therefore,  has  there 
been  so  favorable  a  time  for  the  re-study 
of  this  subject  in  the  light  of  New  Testa- 
13 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


ment  teaching  and  church  history.  Bitter- 
ness of  party  spirit  has  subsided.  Narrow 
prejudices  have  given  way  before  increas- 
ing light  and  a  larger  charity.  The  will  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  more  potent  in  molding  the 
religious  thought  and  life  of  men  to-day 
than  it  has  been  for  many  generations  and 
centuries.  If  He,  our  sovereign  Lord  and 
Head  of  the  church,  desires  his  followers 
to  be  one,  the  Church  now  is  ready  to 
pause  and  ask,  reverently  and  thoughtfully, 
"In  what  sense,  Master,  wouldst  thou  have 
us  one,  and  how  may  it  be  accomplished?" 
Believing  the  time,  therefore,  to  be  propi- 
tious for  such  a  re-investigation  of  the  sub- 
ject, we  purpose  to  contribute  a  series  of 
historical  studies  on  the  unity  of  Christians 
with  the  view  of  aiding  in  the  solution  of 
this  problem  of  our  time. 

As  the  modern  mind  has  become  ac- 
customed to  the  historical  method  of  study, 
it  is  believed  that  the  subject  of  Chris- 
tian union  can  be  seen  in  the  clearest  and 
best  light  when  it  is  looked  at  through  the 
perspective  of  history.  It  is  our  plan, 
therefore,  in  conducting  this  investigation, 
to  begin  with  the  beginning  of  Christianity, 
and  to  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible,  wh»* 
14 


INTRODUCTION. 

kind  of  Christian  union  existed  and  to  what 
causes  it  owed  its  existence  in  the  first 
and  successive  epochs  of  church  history. 
We  believe  that  God  has  been  teaching  us 
through  these  centuries  past  by  the  events 
of  history,  and  especially  in  these  modern 
times  is  He  speaking  to  us  in  the  movements 
of  our  age  in  language  which  can  not  be 
misunderstood  by  those  who  have  eyes  to 
see,  ears  to  hear  and  hearts  to  understand. 
We  feel  sure  that  any  discussion  of  this 
great  theme  that  is  unillumined  and  unin- 
fluenced by  the  providential  movements  of 
our  time  would  be  inadequate.  We  shall 
therefore  seek  to  know  the  meaning  of 
what  God  is  doing  in  our  day  as  well  as  of 
what  He  did  in  days  of  old. 

THE  HISTORICAL  METHOD. 

The  student  to-day  naturally  approaches 
the  study  of  every  subject  that  roots  itself 
back  in  history  by  the  historical  method. 
This  is  the  well-nigh  universal  method  now 
in  vogue  among  scholars  in  their  study  of 
the  sacred  books  of  the  Bible,  whether  they 
be  classed  as  conservative  or  radical.  Tt 
has  seemed  to  us  that  the  subject  of  Chris- 
tian union,  which  is  as  old  as  the  Christian 
15 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


Church,  and  whose  underlying  principles 
are  much  older,  can  be  seen  in  its  true  light 
only  as  it  is  seen  in  the  perspective  of  his- 
tory, especially  of  inspired  history.  Much 
of  the  confusion  relating  to  this  question 
to-day  comes,  we  are  bound  to  think,  from 
viewing  it  too  exclusively  as  a  present-day 
problem  to  be  solved  solely  in  the  light  of 
present  conditions.  The  range  of  vision  is 
not  wide  enough,  and  does  not  extend  back 
into  history  far  enough,  to  see  the  subject  in 
all  its  bearings.  Certainly  we  can  not  ig- 
nore the  present  condition  of  the  Church, 
and  the  present  phase  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing as  relates  to  Christian  union ;  but  it  can 
not  fail  to  be  vastly  helpful  to  study  how 
the  Church  was  one  in  the  beginning  of  its 
career,  the  conditions  under  which  it  re- 
mained one  for  a  period,  the  causes  which 
subverted  that  unity,  and  the  influences 
which  have  been  and  arc  now  at  work  for 
its  restoration.  This  is  what  we  mean  by 
the  historical  method  of  studying  this 
subject. 

For  the  purpose  of  this  study  we  may  di- 
vide the  whole  period  of  Church  History 
into  five  great  epochs,  as  follows : 


16 


INTRODUCTION. 


I.    The  Apostolic  Age. 

Strictly  speaking,  this  would  be  the  pe- 
riod between  the  birth  of  the  Christian 
Church,  in  about  A.  D.  30,  to  the  death  of 
the  Apostle  John,  about  the  year  A.  D.  100. 
It  will  be  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  let 
the  Apostolic  Age  embrace  the  first  century. 

//.    The  Post-Apostolic  Age. 

Again  having  in  mind  the  purpose  of  this 
investigation,  this  second  epoch  of  Church 
History,  beginning  with  the  second  century, 
may  extend  to  the  Council  of  Nice,  in  the 
year  325.  The  adoption  of  the  Nicene  creed 
marks  a  distinct  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
Church. 

77Y.    The  Graeco-Roman  Age. 

This  period  extends  from  the  Nicene 
Council  to  the  Protestant  Reformation  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  under  Martin  Luther. 
This  age  of  the  Church,  which  includes  the 
rise  of  the  papacy,  was  marked  by  the  first 
division  of  the  Church — that  between  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Churches,  bctter 
known  to  modern  history  as  the  Roman 
Catholic  and  Creek  Churches.  This  division 
occurred  in  the  year  1054. 

(2)  17 


CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


IV.  The  Era  of  Protestantism. 

This  epoch  of  the  Church,  beginning,  of 
course,  with  the  Lutheran  Reformation, 
continues  to  the  present.  But  it  has  under- 
gone a  change  in  its  spirit  and  method 
which  justifies  a  new  designation  for  the 
times  in  which  we  live. 

V.  The  Period  of  Reunion. 

This  era  had  its  beginning  in  a  reaction 
against  divisive  tendencies  in  the  Church, 
and  the  introduction  of  influences  and  for- 
mal movements  looking  toward  unity. 
Roughly  speaking,  this  era  began  with  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  will  end  with  the 
fulfillment  of  Christ's  prayer  for  the  unity 
of  his  followers.  This,  we  believe,  will  be 
followed  by  another  great  epoch — that  of 
the  triumph  of  a  united  Church  over  the 
forces  of  evil,  when  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  become  the  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  this  epoch  does  not 
fall  within  the  scope  of  the  present  study, 
save  as  the  sublime  end  toward  which  all 
our  efforts  for  union  look,  and  "toward 
which  the  whole  creation  moves." 

This  is  a  rough  outline  of  the  plan  we 
are  to  follow  in  this  study.  Each  of  these 
18 


INTRODUCTION. 

epochs  of  Church  History  will  be  studied 
in  order  to  find  out  what  lessons  it  has  for 
us  who,  in  these  last  days,  are  seeking  to 
solve  the  problem  of  Christian  union.  Some 
of  these  epochs  will  require  more  careful 
study,  and  will  yield  better  results,  so  far 
as  our  present  topic  is  concerned,  than  oth- 
ers. But  each  will  be  found  to  contribute 
something  in  the  way  of  example,  warning 
or  suggestion  that  will  help  us  to  understand 
more  clearly  the  supreme  problem  which 
confronts  the  Church  to-day. 

"History,"  some  one  has  said,  "is  philos- 
ophy teaching  by  example."  Is  it  not  even 
more  than  that?  If  there  be  a  guiding 
Hand,  an  overruling  Providence,  shaping 
the  course  of  human  events,  does  it  not  fol- 
low that  history  in  the  long  run  is  a  com- 
mentary on  the  divine  purpose?  History 
is  a  great  teacher,  but  in  order  to  learn  the 
lessons  it  can  teach  us  we  must  divest  our- 
selves, as  far  as  possible,  of  all  prejudices 
and  preconceived  theories  that  would  pre- 
vent us  from  accepting  its  facts  or  the 
meaning  of  its  facts.  In  this  investigation 
we  plead  for  an  open  mind  and  a  love  of 
truth  that  transcends  all  our  reverence  for 
inherited  opinions  and  traditions. 

19 


CHRISTIAN  UNIOtf. 

Two  motives  impel  us  to  this  fresh  study 
of  the  subject  of  Christian  union.  We  be- 
lieve that  we  who  are  designated  as  "Dis- 
ciples of  Christ,"  or  "Christians,"  and  who, 
together  with  our  fathers,  have  stood  for 
nearly  a  century  as  advocates  of  Christian 
union,  need  to  re-study  this  subject  both 
in  the  light  of  the  past  and  of  the  present 
that  we  may  renew  our  zeal  in  its  behalf, 
and  get  a  clearer  grasp  of  the  subject  in 
its  relation  to  the  times  in  which  we  live, 
and  to  the  principles  for  which  we  stand. 
Like  others,  we  are  not  immune  from  the 
party  spirit,  and  there  is  constant  danger 
that  we  may  make  the  plea  of  Christian 
union  a  mere  party  slogan,  much  as  a  po- 
litical party  sometimes  raises  a  popular  cry 
to  catch  votes.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is 
danger  that  some  may  grow  weary  of  the 
slow  coming  of  the  desired  unity,  and  may 
seek  to  hasten  it  in  a  way  that  would 
compromise  important  principles  and  fur- 
nish a  new  occasion  for  division.  To  pre- 
vent either  of  these  extremes,  it  seems  to 
us  a  fresh  study  of  this  whole  question  is 
desirable.  The  other  motive  is  a  desire  to 
contribute  any  light  which  we  may  be  able 
to  give  for  the  benefit  of  our  brethren  in 
20 


INTRODUCTION. 


other  religious  bodies  who,  with  us,  are 
seeking  to  solve  the  problem  of  unity  and 
to  find  a  closer  bond  of  fellowship  that 
will  enable  them  to  co-operate,  as  members 
of  a  common  family  and  citizens  of  a  com- 
mon kingdom,  in  spreading  the  reign  of 
Christ  over  the  earth.  Hitherto  the  ears 
of  these  brethren  have  not  been  so  open 
to  hear  anything  we  had  to  say  on  the  sub- 
ject as  they  are  at  present.  We  shall  have 
that  larger  constituency  in  view  in  these 
studies,  and  we  shall  be  grateful  for  any 
help  which  we  may  be  able  to  render  our 
brethren  in  other  religious  bodies,  who, 
equally  with  us,  are  interested  in  this  sub- 
ject. Our  earnest  desire  is,  and  our  earnest 
effort  will  be,  to  avoid  writing  as  a  parti- 
san,' but  to  write  rather  as  a  free  member 
of  the  body  of  Christ,  claiming  fellowship 
with  all  Christians,  and  seeking  only  to 
bring  them  into  such  relations  with  Christ 
and  with  each  other  as  that  the  will  of  God 
may  speedily  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done 
in  heaven. 

We  are  at  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  on  the 
subject  of  Christian  unity.    Men  may  shut 
their  eyes  to  tlie  fact  if  they  will,  but  the 
fact  exists  nevertheless.    A  new  spirit  has 
21 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


entered  into  the  hearts  of  Christian  people, 
and  the  Church  has  caught  the  sight  of  a 
new  vision  which  will  henceforth  be  a  con- 
trolling factor  in  its  life.  Having  once  seen 
this  fair  vision,  it  can  never  live  and  labor 
contentedly  under  the  limitations  of  its  di- 
vision walls.  It  is  with  the  view  of  hasten- 
ing the  realization  on  earth  of  this  vision 
of  a  united  Church,  if  only  in  some  small 
degree,  that  we  undertake  this  work. 

It  is  with  a  profound  sense  of  our  in- 
ability to  deal  adequately  with  so  great  and 
vital  a  theme,  that  we  undertake  the  task 
outlined  above.  We  do  so,  however,  relying 
confidently  upon  the  gracious  aid  of  that 
divine  and  immanent  Spirit  an  important 
part  of  whose  mission  in  the  Church  is  to 
promote  its  spiritual  development  and  unity. 


22 


I 

THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


"Neither  for  these  only  do  I  pray,  but  for 
them  also  that  believe  on  me  through  their 
word;  that  they  may  all  be  one;  even  as  thou, 
Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  in  us;  that  the  world  may  believe  that 
thou  didst  send  me."    (John  17:20,  21.) 

''By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another." 
(John  13:35) 

"And  the  multitude  of  them  that  believed 
were  of  one  heart  and  soul:  and  not  one  of 
them  said  that  aught  of  the  things  which  he 
possessed  was  his  own;  but  they  had  all  things 
common."    (Acts  4:32.) 

"Now  this  I  mean,  that  each  one  of  you 
saith,  I  am  of  Paul;  and  I  of  Apollos;  and  I  of 
Cephas;  and  I  of  Christ.  Is  Christ  divided? 
was  Paul  crucified  for  you?  or  were  you  bap- 
tized in  the  name  of  Paul?"    (I.  Cor.  1:12,  13.) 

"Wherefore  let  no  one  glory  in  nun.  For 
all  things  are  yours;  whether  Paul,  or 
Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or 
death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to  come; 
all  are  yours;  and  ye  are  Christ's;  and  Christ 
is  God's."    (I.  Cor.  3:21-23.) 

24 


I 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 

THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

God  had  a  "chosen  people"  under  both 
the  patriarchal  and  Jewish  dispensations 
among  whom  there  were  devout  souls  who 
''walked  with  God"  and  obeyed  His  will  so 
far  as  it  was  revealed  to  them.  But  the  in- 
stitution known  as  the  Church,  the  Church 
of  God,  or  the  Church  of  Christ,  came  into 
existence  on  the  first  Pentecost  following 
the  crucifixion  and  resurrection  of  Christ. 
This  occurred  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  in 
about  the  year  A.  D.  29  or  30.  There  was  a 
concurrence  of  events  at  this  time  and  place 
that  marked  the  introduction  of  a  new  age, 
or  dispensation. 

Fifty  days  before  this  event  Jesus  had 
been  crucified  at  the  time  of  the  Jewish 
Passover.  On  the  third  day  afterwards  he 
had  risen  from  the  dead.  Forty  days  after 
his  resurrection  he  remained  amonsr  his 
disciples,  appearing  to  them  at  different 
times  and  furnishing  them  many  "infalli- 
25 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


ble  proofs"  of  his  identity  and  of  the  real- 
ity of  his  resurrection.  He  had  then  as- 
cended to  his  Father  from  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  where,  under  the  brilliant  light  of 
the  Syrian  sun,  he  was  parted  from  them  in 
the  act  of  blessing  them,  and  was  received 
into  heaven.  One  week  later,  being  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  he  fulfilled  his  promise 
to  his  disciples  by  sending  upon  them  "the 
promise  of  the  Father."  The  week  be- 
tween the  ascension  of  Jesus  and  the  advent 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  seems  to  have  been  spent 
by  the  disciples  in  a  prayer  meeting.  (Acts 
I  :i4.) 

Being  thus  gathered  together,  the  Spirit 
descended  upon  them,  "and  they  were  all 
filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  began  to 
speak  with  other  tongues,  as  the  Spirit 
gave  them  utterance."  Peter,  who  seems  to 
have  been  the  chief  speaker,  explained  the 
phenomena  which  they  were  witnessing  as 
the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  of  Joel  con- 
cerning the  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
last  days,  and  vindicated  Jesus  as  the  true 
Messiah  by  announcing  his  resurrection  and 
coronation  in  heaven.  As  a  result  of  his 
preaching  and  that  of  the  other  apostles, 
three  thousand  were  convicted  of  sin,  and 
26 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


were  baptized  in  the  name  of  Christ  on 
that  day.    (Acts  2.) 

At  that  time  and  in  that  place  came  into 
being  what  has  since  been  known  in  his- 
tory as  the  Church.  It  could  not  have  come 
into  existence  earlier,  because  (1)  Jesus 
had  not  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures;  (2)  had  not  risen  from  the 
dead  for  our  justification;  (3)  had  not  as- 
cended into  heaven  and  thus  vindicated  his 
claims  to  the  Messiahship ;  nor  (4)  had  the 
Holy  Spirit  been  given  in  his  new  relation 
to  men,  through  whom  men  were  to  be  con- 
victed of  sin  and  made  alive  to  Christ.  Be- 
sides, this  was  the  time  and  place  for  this 
event,  according  to  the  Scriptures.  Cen- 
turies before  Isaiah  had  prophesied,  saying: 
"And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  latter  days, 
that  the  mountain  of  Jehovah's  house  shall 
be  established  on  the  top  of  the  mountains, 
and  shall  be  exalted  among  the  hills ;  and 
all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it.  And  many 
people  shall  go  and  say,  Come  ye,  and  let 
us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  Jehovah,  to 
the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob ;  and  he  shall 
teach  us  of  his  ways,  and  we  shall  walk  in 
his  paths ;  for  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth 
the  law,  and  the  word  of  Jehovah  from  Je- 
27 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


rusalem."    (See  also  Micah  4:1,  2.) 

Concerning  this  same  event,  Jesus  had 
prophesied  more  specifically  when  he  said 
to  two  of  his  disciples  on  the  way  to  Em- 
maus,  "Thus  it  is  written,  that  the  Christ 
should  suffer,  and  rise  again  from  the  dead 
the  third  day;  and  that  repentance  and  re- 
mission of  sins  should  be  preached  in  his 
name  unto  all'the  nations,  beginning  from 
Jerusalem.  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things. 
And  behold,  I  send  forth  the  promise  of  my 
Father  upon  you  ;  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city, 
until  ye  be  clothed  with  power  from  on 
high."  (Luke  24:46-49.)  This  passage 
fixes  definitely  both  the  time  and  the  place 
of  the  beginning  of  that  great  spiritual 
movement  which  we  call  the  Church. 

There  was  a  time  of  necessary  prepara- 
tion going  before  this  in  the  life  and  per- 
sonal ministry  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the 
training  of  his  apostles  who  were  to  be  the 
charter  members  and  nucleus  of  his  Church, 
and  ministers  plenipotentiary  in  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  Gospel  and  the  terms  of 
salvation.  But  even  these  apostles  had  a 
vague  and  inadequate  conception  of  the 
mission  of  Jesus  and  of  the  nature  of  his 
kingdom  until  they  had  received  the  endue- 
23 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


merit  of  power  from  on  high.  How  much 
less  prepared  were  the  others  to  become 
spiritual  members  of  the  Church  made  up 
of  regenerated  persons !  It  was  not  the 
work  of  Jesus  during  his  earthly  ministry 
to  establish  his  Church  and  win  men  to  his 
spiritual  reign  by  his  own  personal  appeal. 
That  was  to  be  the  work  of  the  apostles 
and  others  who  should  come  after  them. 
His  was  a  work  of  preparation — the  prep- 
aration of  the  Gospel  message  and  of  men 
who  were  to  declare  it.  This  was  why  he 
could  say  to  his  disciples,  "And  greater 
works  than  this  shall  he  do  [who  believes 
on  me]  because  I  go  unto  my  Father." 
(John  14:12.)  His  going  to  the  Father  by 
the  way  of  the  cross,  the  sepulcher,  the  res- 
urrection and  the  ascension,  would  complete 
a  message  which,  when  told  by  men  under 
the  power  of  the  Spirit,  would  enable  them 
to  do  greater  works  than  any  miracle  he 
had  wrought.  Jesus  always  taught  his  dis- 
ciples to  esteem  spiritual  blessings  far  be- 
yond any  material  blessings,  even  the  sav- 
ing of  their  physical  lives.  Hence  the  moral 
and  spiritual  changes  to  be  effected  by  the 
Gospel  through  the  preaching  of  his  dis- 
ciples were  in  his  thought  "greater  works" 
29 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


than  any  physical  miracles  he  haa  wrought. 

Thus  came  into  existence,  through  the 
preaching  by  the  apostles  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified,  and  through  faith  in  and 
obedience  to  him,  that  Church  whose  for- 
tunes we  are  to  follow,  and  the  secret  of 
whose  unity  we  are  to  seek  to  find.  It  is 
important  to  note  the  following  facts  in 
connection  with  the  beginning  of  the 
Church,  as  they  will  have  an  important 
bearing  in  our  future  investigation  of  this 
subject: 

I.  The  subject  matter  of  the  preaching 
which  produced  the  faith  and  conviction  of 
sin,  causing  the  men  who  heard  it  to  cry 
out,  "Brethren,  what  shall  we  do?"  was 
Jesus  Christ,  crucified,  risen  again  from  the 
dead,  ascended  into  heaven,  crowned  king, 
and  sending  forth  his  Holy  Spirit  upon 
them,  through  whom  he  declared  the  mes- 
sage of  life  and  salvation.  In  other  words, 
it  was  the  simple  facts  of  the  Gospel — a 
story  which  later  came  to  be  summarized 
in  a  single  phrase,  "the  Cross  of  Christ." 
Th  ere  were  no  theological  definitions  or 
philosophical  speculations  or  far-drawn  in- 
ferences, but  the  earnest  proclamation  of 
well-attested  facts  concerning  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth. 

30 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 

2.  The  power  by  which  these  facts  were 
declared,  and  which  used  these  facts  in  con- 
victing of  sin  those  who  had  been  the  mur- 
derers of  Jesus,  was  the  Holy  Spirit,  with- 
out whose  enduement  they  were  not  per- 
mitted to  begin  their  work. 

3.  So  clear  and  convincing  was  the 
preaching,  and  so  unmistakable  were  the 
directions  given  to  these  men  that  three 
thousand  persons  on  that  same  day  yielded 
obedience  to  the  Lord  in  baptism  and  were 
added  to  the  Church. 

4.  "  Notice,  further,  that  this  Church  was 
a  spiritual  institution,  the  Gospel  having 
been  preached  by  men  who  were  "filled  with 
the  Spirit,"  and  each  individual  member, 
having  believed,  repented  and  been  bap- 
tized unto  the  remission  of  sins,  received 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.    (Acts  2:38.) 

It  is  not  strange  to  read  of  such  a  Church 
that  "The  multitude  of  them  that  believed 
were  of  one  heart  and  soul ;  and  no  one 
of  them  said  that  aught  of  the  things  which 
he  possessed  was  his  own ;  but  they  had  all 
things  common,  and  with  great  power  gave 
the  apostles  their  witness  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Lord  Jesus ;  and  great  grace 
was  upon  them  all."  (Acts  4:32,  33.) 
•  31 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


AN  UNDIVIDED  CHURCH. 

The  fact  that  stands  out  in  bold  signifi- 
cance on  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament 
is  that  the  Church  of  the  first  century  was 
an  undivided  Church.  It  had  its  local  as- 
semblies or  congregations  in  different 
places,  as  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  Antioch, 
Philippi,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  Rome,  etc.,  but 
these  were  regarded  as  component  parts  of 
the  one  united  Church  of  God  in  the  world. 
The  term  church  (ckklcsia)  was  used  in 
two  senses  only,  the  one  local,  the  other 
general.  "The  church  of  God,  which  is  at 
Corinth"  (i  Cor.  i  :2),  and  the  "Church  of 
the  living  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of 
the  truth"  (i  Tim.  3:15),  are  instances  of 
the  local  and  general  uses  of  the  term.  The 
latter  use  of  the  word  Church  may  mean 
either  the  actual  Church,  as  a  whole,  or  the 
ideal  Church.* 


*"We  may  think  of  the  Church  as  an  'empiric  matter 
of  fact,'  i.  e.,  as  a  collection  of  individuals,  the  actual 
Church,  or  we  may  cease  to  think  of  the  Church  as  a 
noun  of  multitude  and  regard  it  as  a  single  individual 
entity,  the  ideal  Church.  The  second  point  of  view  is 
closely  related  to  the  first.  If  we  ask  what  is  in  the 
minds  of  the  writers  in  this  usage  we  find  that  ultimately 
they  are  thinking  not  of  a  single  entity,  but  of  a  col- 
lection of  individuals.    So  when  St.  Paul  says  the  Church 

32 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


The  important  thing  to  notice  is,  that 
there  was  no  prefix  or  affix  to  the  term 
"Church,"  except  to  denote  its  location. 
There  was  nothing  to  indicate  different 
kinds  of  churches  having  different  creeds 
and  terms  of  fellowship,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  no  such  churches  existed.  What- 
ever may  have  been  their  differences  of 
opinion  and  feeling  on  many  points — and 
these  were  very  great,  as  we  shall  point  out 
later — they  regarded  themselves,  and  were 
so  regarded  by  the  apostles,  as  constituting 
one  Church,  or  "one  body,"  having  "one 
Spirit"  and  "one  hope,"  with  "one  Lord, 
one  faith,  and  one  baptism."     (Eph.  4: 


is  the  'body*  or  'bride'  of  Christ,  he  is  really  expressing, 
under  the  figure  of  a  single  entity,  the  Church,  the  rela- 
tion in  which  Christ  stands  to  individual  members.  There 
is,  however,  a  real  difference  between  the  conception  of 
the  actual  and  ideal  Church  in  two  respects:  (i)  The  con- 
ception of  the  actual  Church  regards  it  as  it  really  is, 
i.  •c.,  a  body  of  individuals  of  various  degrees  of  imper- 
fection; while  the  ideal  Church  is  a  body  whose  members 
represent  the  ideal  of  membership,  i.  e.,  it  is  a  perfect 
Church,  or  at  least  one  free  from  the  negative  aspect  of 
evil.  (2)  The  actual  Church  is  composed  of  the  mem- 
bers who  are  still  alive  and  in  the  world  at  time  of 
speaking;  while  the  conception  of  the  ideal  Church  does 
not  denote  a  definite  number  of  members  at  a  definite 
time,  but  implies  a  membership  independent  of  time.  The 

latter  is  in  fact  an   ideal,  not  an  empirical,  body."  

Hastings  Bible  Dictionary,  Vol,  J.,  p.  41$. 

(3)  '  33 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


4,  5.)  A  member  going  from  any  one  of 
the  local  churches  to  another,  in  the  apos- 
tolic age,  would  have  been  welcomed  into 
its  fellowship  on  giving  evidence  of  his 
membership  elsewhere.  So  far  as  the  lo- 
cation of  these  churches  and  the  limited 
methods  of  communication  and  transporta- 
tion made  it  possible,  they  were  ready  to 
co-operate  with  each  other  in  furthering  the 
common  interests  of  a  common  Church.  As 
we  have  already  seen,  the  multitude  of 
disciples  at  Jerusalem  were  "of  one  heart 
and  one  soul,"  practicing  even  a  commu- 
nity of  goods.  The  Macedonian  churches 
made  offerings  to  relieve  the  poor  saints 
in  Judea. 

When  one  sits  down  to  study  the  causes 
which  made  possible  the  marvelous  success 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  first  century,  in  the 
face  of  Jewish  narrowness  and  bigotry  and 
Gentile  licentiousness  and  idolatry,  he  can 
not  fail  to  see  that  without  the  unity  which 
characterized  the  Church  of  that  age  its 
victories  would  have  been  impossible.  The 
very  fact  that  the  new  religion  possessed  a 
unifying  power  that  could  bind  together  in 
harmony  Jew  and  Gentile,  Greek  and  bar- 
barian, bond  and  free,  gave  it  a  tremen- 
34 


Tllli  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


dous  moral  power  and  momentum  which 
triumphed  over  all  opposition.  Jerusalem, 
Judea,  Samaria,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  world,  felt  its  quickening  touch  and 
owned  its  transforming  power.  Antioch, 
Ephesus,  Corinth  and  Rome  were  in  turn 
shaken  to  their  foundations  by  the  new 
dynamic  of  a  divine  evangel  preached  by 
a  united  Church.  Blending  hearts  in  one, 
breaking  down  ancient  barriers  of  hatred 
and  prejudice,  it  had  one  supreme  passion — 
the  extension  of  Christ's  reign  over  all  the 
habitable  world.  Passing  through  fires  of 
persecution  undaunted  and  undismayed, 
this  Gospel  of  human  brotherhood,  under 
the  divine  Fatherhood,  spread  throughout 
the  Roman  empire  and  later  mounted  to 
the  very  throne  of  the  Caesars. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  too,  that  the 
Church  began  its  career  at  a  time  when 
deep-seated  prejudices  and  bitter  hostility 
divided  the  different  races  and  classes  of 
men.  The  Jew  and  the  Gentile  despised 
each  other,  while  a  feeling  of  bitter  hos- 
tility existed  between  the  Samaritans  and 
the  Jews.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  all  these 
racial  and  class  prejudices  and  religious 
feuds,  there  were  gathered  together  out  of 
35 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


these  hostile  elements  a  united  Church, 
whose  members  were  bound  together  by 
ties  which  even  death  could  not  sever.  What 
was  the  secret  of  its  unity?  What  made 
the  Church  of  the  first  century,  composed 
as  it  was  of  these  diverse  elements,  a 
united  Church?  Its  bond  of  unity  was  the 
personal  allegiance  of  its  members  to  the 
personal  Christ  as  Saviour  and  Lord.  Their 
common  faith  was  faith  in  him.  Their 
common  love  was  love  for  him.  Their  com- 
mon hope  was  hope  in  him.  Their  com- 
mon baptism  was  baptism  in  his  name. 
Their  unity — the  unity  of  the  Spirit — was 
in  him.  Their  union  with  each  other  was 
the  direct  result  of  their  union  with  him. 
He  had  communicated  to  them  his  Spirit. 
In  his  life  and  teaching,  in  his  wonderful 
works  of  mercy,  in  his  atoning  death  and 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  in  his  ascen- 
sion to  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  corona- 
tion as  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords, 
they  found  all  that  was  necessary  to  their 
spiritual  life  and  growth,  their  triumph 
over  all  the  forces  of  evil,  and  their  pledge 
of  immortality.  It  was  no  human  formula- 
tion of  doctrines,  nor  was  it  any  pressure  of 
external  authority,  that  made  them  one,  but 
36 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 

the  cohesive  power  of  a  mutual  love  for 
their  divine  Lord  and  for  all  his  disciples. 
So  close  was  this  personal  tie  between  the 
disciples  and  their  Lord  that  he  suffered 
with  all  their  sufferings,  bore  their  re- 
proaches and  they  shared  in  his  life  and  in 
all  his  triumphs. 

Such  was  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  the 
beginning.  We  shall  see,  further  on,  to  what 
severe  tests  this  unity  was  put  by  ques- 
tions which  arose  in  the  apostolic  age,  and 
which  excited  warm  discussion  and  wide 
differences  of  opinion. 

UNITY  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  TESTED. 

It  should  be  stated  that  the  unity  which 
prevailed  in  the  Church  immediately  fol- 
lowing Pentecost,  and  for  a  few  years 
later,  was  of  that  simple,  naive  kind  which 
flowed  naturally  out  of  their  first  love  for 
each  other  and  for  their  common  Master, 
and  which  had  not  been  tried.  This  divine 
impulse  was  sufficient  to  overcome,  for  the 
time  at  least,  the  ancient  differences  and 
alienations  which  existed  between  sects  and 
races,  but  would  the  bond  of  unity  be 
strong  enough  tq.hold  the  Church  together 
37 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


when  there  should  spring  up  within  the 
Church  itself  serious  differences  of  opinion 
touching  the  very  nature  and  scope  of  the 
new  religion?  It  was  not  long  before  the 
unity  of  the  Church  in  the  apostolic  age 
was  subjected  to  such  a  test. 

In  less  than  a  score  of  years,  after  Chris- 
tianity had  passed  beyond  Jewish  limita- 
tions, and  Gentile  converts  had  been 
brought  into  the  Church,  a  fierce  contro- 
versy arose  concerning  the  reception  of 
Gentile  converts,  as  to  whether  they  should 
not  be  required  to  submit  to  circumcision 
and  to  keep  the  law  of  Moses.  Paul,  the 
missionary  to  the  Gentiles,  championed 
the  cause  of  Christian  liberty,  and  held  firm- 
ly to  the  position  that  to  impose  circum- 
cision on  these  converts  was  to  nullify  the 
Gospel,  while  to  accept  circumcision  was  to 
become  a  debtor  to  do  the  whole  law  and 
to  be  severed  from  Christ.  (Gal.  5:1-4.) 
On  the  other  hand  we  can  well  understand 
how  radical  and  revolutionary  it  must  have 
seemed  to  certain  Jewish  brethren  to  re- 
ceive on  terms  of  religious  equality  those 
who  had  never  submitted  to  circumcision 
and  the  Jewish  law.  To  them  it  seemed  like 
trampling  under  feet  the  religion  of  their 
38 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


fathers,  and  therefore  not  to  be  tolerated. 
This  man  Paul,  who  was  receiving  Gentile 
converts  into  the  Church  without  circum- 
cision and  was  teaching  them  that  the  law 
of  Moses  was  superseded  by  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  was,  in  their  estimation,  an  arch 
heretic  whose  mouth  should  be  stopped. 

It  is  a  sad  fact  to  which  history  bears 
abundant  testimony  that  at  every  great 
crisis  in  the  Church,  when  some  advance 
step  is  to  be  taken  to  adjust  the  forces  of 
righteousness  to  the  demands  of  the  new 
age,  some  one  whom  God  has  chosen  for 
the  purpose  must  make  himself  "of  no  repu- 
tation" with  a  large  section  of  the  Church 
in  order  to  voice  God's  will  to  that  age. 
These  leaders  have  had  to  bear  not  only 
the  travail  of  soul  which  every  honest  man 
experiences  in  breaking  away  from  once 
cherished  opinions,  but  they  have  had  to 
endure  the  opprobrium  of  their  brethren 
who  have  not  been  able  to  see  the  truth  in 
its  new  light  and  in  its  wider  relations,  nor 
to  acknowledge  the  equal  loyalty  of  those 
who  do  see  it.  Paul  may  be  considered 
the  most  conspicuous  example  of  this  type 
of  leader  in  the  early  Church,  though 
Stephen,  the  proto-martyr,  was  before  him 
39 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


in  his  apprehension  of  the  spiritual  nature 
of  Christianity  and  in  sealing  his  testimony 
with  his  blood. 

It  is  easy  for  us,  at  this  distant  age,  to 
underestimate  the  gravity  of  that  issue.  It 
was  a  question  of  far-reaching  importance, 
on  the  right  settlement  of  which  depended 
the  future  triumphs  of  Christianity  in  the 
world.  It  was  the  beginning  of  that  age- 
long conflict  between  Christian  liberty  and 
a  stolid  and  narrow  conservatism  which 
clings  to  ideas  and  customs  long  after  they 
have  ceased  to  meet  the  needs  of  men.  The 
question  came  to  a  crisis  when  "certain 
men  came  down  [to  Antioch]  from  Judea 
and  taught  the  brethren,  saying,  Except  ye 
be  circumcised  after  the  custom  of  Moses 
ye  can  not  be  saved."  Is  it  too  severe  to 
say  that  these  self-appointed  regulators 
of  their  brethren  were  not  half  so  much 
concerned  about  saving  these  Antiochians 
as  they  were  about  saving  their  traditions? 
We  are  not  surprised  to  read  that  "Paul 
and  Barnabas  had  no  small  dissension  and 
questioning  with  them."  The  result  was 
that  "the  brethren  appointed  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  and  certain  other  of  them  should 
go  up  to  Jerusalem  unto  the  apostles  and 
40 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


elders  about  this  question."  (Acts  15: 
1,  2.)  There  the  matter  was  amicably- 
settled,  and  settled  in  favor  of  Paul's  posi- 
tion, with  a  few  concessions  to  Jewish 
prejudice  which  involved  no  principle,  and 
the  observance  of  certain  moral  require- 
ments which  Paul  had  not  neglected. 

Gentile  converts  need  not  be  circumcised, 
but  they  would  be  asked  to  "abstain  from 
the  pollutions  of  idols,  and  from  forni- 
cation and  from  what  is  strangled  and  from 
blood."  This  was  the  settlement  which 
"seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to 
us" — the  apostles  and  elders. 

Thus  a  great  crisis  in  the  Church  was 
safely  passed.  It  was  fortunate  that  the 
cause  of  Christian  liberty  had  such  an  able 
champion  as  Paul.  It  would  have  been 
easy  to  have  split  the  Church  in  twain  on 
that  subject,  if  the  leaders  had  been  less 
guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  had  been 
ambitious  to  be  party  leaders.  It  was  the 
spirit  of  unity,  and  loyalty  to  a  common 
Lord,  on  the  part  of  Paul  and  Barnabas — 
the  liberal  leaders — and  Peter  and  James — 
the  conservative  leaders — that  brought 
about  this  happy  settlement  and  averted  a 
disruption  in  the  Church.  It  may  be  ques- 
41 


CHRIST  I  AS  USIOS 


tioned  whether  a  single  division  in  the 
Church  to-day  is  based  on  a  more  important 
question  of  difference  than  that  which  this 
conference  at  Jerusalem  settled.  What  were 
the  principles  observed  in  this  settlement? 

1.  Christian  liberty  prevailed  over  the 
narrower  interpretation  of  God's  will  and 
purpose.   When  has  it  not  done  so  ? 

2.  But  there  was  no  compromise  of 
truth.  The  will  of  Christ,  as  manifested 
in  his  word  and  in  the  events  of  that  day, 
was  honored  and  carried  out. 

3-  Love  triumphed  over  partisan  feeling, 
and  catholicity  over  provincialism. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  question  of  the 
relation  of  Gentile  Christians  to  the  law 
as  having  been  settled  by  the  conference 
at  Jerusalem.  It  was.  indeed,  a  settlement 
of  this  question  among  the  leaders  of  the 
Church,  and  probably  a  majority  of  the 
members.  If  any  one  supposes,  however, 
that  the  Judaizing  party  in  Jerusalem  ac- 
cepted this  official  decision  as  final,  and 
were  silenced  by  it,  he  reckons  without  the 
record.  When  was  the  spirit  of  faction,  or 
of  opinionism,  ever  submissive  to  the  wis- 
dom and  wish  of  the  leaders  of  the  Church, 
and  the  majority  of  its  members? 

42 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


It  is  clear  from  the  record  of  this  council, 
as  it  has  been  called,  that  there  was  op- 
position to  the  decision  at  the  time,  and 
notw  ithstanding  the  agreement  reached  be- 
tween the  "pillar"  apostles  at  Jerusalem, 
Peter,  James  and  John,  on  the  one  side,' 
and  the  heads  of  the  Gentile  mission,  Paul 
and  Barnabas,  on  the  other,  this  opposi- 
tion increased  in  strength  and  fury  until 
the  party  resolved  to  send  out  propagan- 
dists to  visit  the  Gentile  churches  and  per- 
suade them  to  be  circumcised  and  to  keep 
the  law  of  Moses,  if  they  would  not  imperil 
their  salvation.  Of  course  this  was  in  di- 
rect violation  of  the  decision  which  had 
been  reached,  and  of  the  apostolic  rescript 
conveying  this  decision  to  the  churches. 
But  no  doubt  these  men  justified  their 
course  on  the  ground  that  it  was  more  im- 
portant to  see  that  the  law  of  Moses  was 
obeyed  than  that  they  should  obey  a  de- 
cision issued  by  men  of  their  own  time, 
and  that,  too,  against  their  wishes.  Be- 
sides, did  they  not  have  a  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord"  enjoining  circumcision  and  other 
legal  observances? 

"For  years  and  years  these  emissaries  of 
a  narrow-minded  fanaticism,  which  believed 
43 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


itself  to  be  the  only  genuine  Christianity, 
diffused  themselves  over  all  the  churches 
founded  by  Paul  throughout  the  Gentile 
world.  Their  work  was  not  to  found 
churches  of  their  own :  they  had  none  of 
the  original  pioneer  ability  of  their  great 
rival.  Their  business  was  to  steal  into  the 
Christian  communities  he  had  founded  and 
win  them  to  their  own  narrow  views.  They 
haunted  Paul's  footsteps  wherever  he  went, 
and  for  many  years  were  a  cause  to  him  of 
unspeakable  pain.  They  whispered  to  his 
converts  that  his  version  of  the  Gospel  was 
not  the  true  one,  and  that  his  authority 
was  not  to  be  trusted.  Was  he  one  of  the 
twelve  apostles?  Had  he  kept  company 
with  Christ  ?  They  represented  themselves 
as  having  brought  the  true  form  of  Chris- 
tianity from  Jerusalem,  the  sacred  head- 
quarters; and  they  did  not  scruple  to  pro- 
fess that  they  had  been  sent  from  the  apos- 
tles there.  They  distorted  the  very  noblest 
parts  of  Paul's  conduct  to  their  purpose. 
For  instance,  his  refusal  to  accept  money 
for  his  services  they  imputed  to  a  sense  of 
his  own  lack  of  authority ;  the  real  apostles 
always  received  pay.  In  the  same  way  they 
misconstrued  his  abstinence  from  marriage. 
44 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


They  were  men  not  without  ability  for  the 
work  they  had  undertaken ;  they  had 
smooth,  insinuating  tongues,  they  could 
assume  an  air  of  dignity,  and  they  did  not 
stick  at  trifles."*  Nor  were  the  efforts  of 
these  men  without  success.  Particularly 
were  the  Galatian  and  Corinthian  churches 
affected  by  them.  The  Galatian  letter  is 
one  of  the  hot  bolts  which  Paul  hurled 
against  his  enemies,  who,  in  time,  were  si* 
lenced,  but  not  without  making  a  severe 
test  of  the  bond  of  unity  which  held  the 
early  Church  together  as  one  body. 

Another  question  soon  rose  upon  the 
horizon,  which  was  close  akin  to  the  one 
whose  disturbing  influence  we  have  just 
seen.  Was  it  right  for  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians to  continue  to  observe  the  law  of 
Moses?  It  is  certain  that  Paul's  view  of 
Christianity,  if  rigidly  applied,  would  have 
put  a  stop  to  all  such  legal  observances. 
Besides,  it  was  a  logical  conclusion  from 
the  decision  in  reference  to  Gentile  Chris- 
tians. There  could  not  be  two  sets  of  terms 
of  admission  into  the  Church — one  for 
Jews  and  another  for  Gentiles.    Paul,  how- 

""The  Life  of  St.  Paul,"  by  Rev.  James  Stalker  M.  A., 
pate  140. 

45 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 

ever,  was  about  the  only  leader  who  saw 
clearly  that  the  law  of  Moses  was  super- 
seded by  Christianity,  and  that  the  believer 
in  Christ  was  complete  in  him  and  needed 
not  to  observe  the  ceremonials  of  the  law. 
It  is  certain  that  the  main  body  of  the  Jew- 
ish converts  to  Christianity,  including  per- 
haps the  apostles  at  Jerusalem,  had  not  yet 
reached  this  conception  of  Christianity. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  we  know  they  continued 
to  observe  the  law  for  many  years  after 
their  conversion  to  Christianity,  so  that 
James  could  say  to  Paul,  on  his  return  from 
his  third  missionary  tour,  as  late  perhaps 
as  the  year  A.  D.  56,  or  57,  "Thou  seest, 
brother,  how  many  thousands  of  Jews  there 
are  who  believe ;  and  they  are  all  jealous 
of  the  law;  and  they  are  informed  of  thee 
that  thou  teachest  all  the  Jews  who  are 
among  the  Gentiles  to  forsake  Moses,  say- 
ing that  they  ought  not  to  circumcise  their 
children,  neither  to  walk  after  their  cus- 
toms." For  a  quarter  of  a  century,  there- 
fore, the  Jews  who  believed  on  Christ  had 
continued  to  be  "jealous  of  the  law."  There 
is  no  evidence  that  Paul  had  ever  raised 
his  voice  against  the  custom.  The  rumor 
that  had  reached  Jerusalem  to  that  effect 
46 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


was  probably  one  of  the  false  reports  cir- 
culated by  his  enemies  to  injure  his  influ- 
ence. "By  one  huge  blow  he  had  cut  him- 
self free  from  the  bigotry  of  bondage ;  but 
he  never  fell  into  the  bigotry  of  liberty." 

A  very  important  principle  of  union 
comes  to  light  in  the  foregoing  facts.  There 
are  those,  no  doubt,  who  think  Paul  should 
have  made  an  issue  with  his  conservative 
brethren  and  forced  them  to  abandon  their 
Jewish  observances  or  himself  pulled  out, 
with  his  party,  in  order  to  have  a  "pure" 
Christian  Church.  But  he  deemed  it  wiser 
and  more  in  accordance  with  Christ's  spirit 
not  to  interfere  with  the  deep-seated  prej- 
udices and  long-established  customs  of  his 
Jewish  brethren,  believing  that  the  growth 
of  the  Christian  life  within  them  would  ulti- 
mately remedy  the  matter.  So  long  as  they 
held  to  Christ  as  Lord  and  Saviour,  he  felt 
that  they  should  be  recognized  as  Chris- 
tians, and  that  Christ  himself  would  reveal 
to  them  the  way  of  the  Lord  more  perfect- 
ly- Without  this  spirit  of  mutual  toleration 
the  Church  could  not  have  passed  through 
the  apostolic  age  an  undivided  Church. 

It  is  equally  true  that  this  same  spirit  of 
conciliation  and  mutual  recognition  of  each 
47 


CHRIST  I, IX  UNION 


other's  right  to  think  for  themselves  is  an 
essential  condition  of  union  in  our  day. 
The  two  types  of  mind  represented  in  the 
early  Church  in  these  controversies  are  in 
the  Church  to-day,  have  always  been,  and 
will  always  be.  If  conservative  and  liberal 
brethren  can  not  dwell  together  in  the  unity 
of  a  common  faith  in  spite  of  differences  of 
opinion,  then  the  cause  of  union  is  hopeless, 
and  made  so  by  him  who  constituted  us 
with  different  kinds  of  minds.  Cut  he 
who  broke  down  the  middle  wall  of  parti- 
tion between  Jews  and  Gentiles  has  shown 
us  how  to  be  one  in  faith  and  loyalty  to  him 
while  differing  in  our  apprehension  of  truth. 

UNITY  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  IMPERILED. 

We  have  seen  what  a  strain  was  put  upon 
the  unity  of  the  Church  in  the  apostolic  age 
by  the  differences  which  arose  concerning 
the  relation  of  Christianity  to  the  law  of 
Moses.  As  the  Church  spread  over  a  larger 
territory  and  included  a  greater  variety  of 
people,  other  differences  of  more  or  less  im- 
portance developed,  of  which  we  can  see 
the  evidences  in  the  apostolic  letters  to  the 
churches.  We  are  not  to  think  of  the  unity 
of  the  Church  in  that  age  as  consisting  of 
48 


THIS  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


perfect  uniformity  of  opinion,  of  methods 
of  worship,  or  forms  of  organization.  We 
have  but  to  study  the  internal  history  of  the 
Church  of  that  period  to  know  that  such 
was  far  from  being  its  real  condition.  In 
his  history  of  the  early  Church,  Dr.  Mo- 
sheim  says  of  the  Church  of  the  first  cen- 
tury : 

"The  Christian  Church  was  scarcely 
formed  when  in  different  places  there  start- 
ed up  certain  pretended  reformers,  who,  not 
satisfied  with  the  simplicity  of  that  religion 
which  was  taught  by  the  apostles,  medi- 
tated changes  of  doctrine  and  worship,  and 
set  up  a  new  religion  drawn  from  their  own 
licentious  imaginations.  This  we  learn  from 
the  writings  of  the  apostles,  and  particularly 
from  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  where  we  find 
that  some  were  inclined  to  force  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  into  conformity  with 
the  philosophical  systems  they  had  adopted, 
while  others  were  as  studious  to  blend  with 
these  doctrines  the  opinions,  customs  and 
traditions  of  the  Jews.  Several  of  these 
are  mentioned  by  the  apostles,  such  as  Hy- 
meneus,  Alexander,  Philetus,  Ilermogenes, 
Demas  and  Diotrcphes  ;  though  the  four  last 
are  to  "be  considered  as  apostates  from  the 
(4)  49 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


truth  rather  than  as  corrupters  of  it."* 

Among  other  false  doctrines  in  the  apos- 
tolic age  was  Gnosticism,  though  it  devel- 
oped itself  more  fully  in  the  post-apostolic 
age.  Reference  to  this  sect  and  its  false 
teachings  may  be  seen  in  Paul's  letters  to 
the  Ephesians  and  Colossians.  Among  the 
false  teachers  of  this  period  was  Simon 
Magus,  whom  ancient*  writers  describe  as 
exerting  a  wide  and  pernicious  influence 
after  the  experience  recorded  in  the  Acts 
of  Apostles.  Menander  and  Cerenthus  are 
other  names  mentioned  by  Mosheim  as 
teachers  of  false  doctrines  during  the  apos- 
tolic age-  The  Pauline  epistles  have  ac- 
quainted us  with  certain  questions  which 
arose  among  the  churches  in  relation  to 
the  eating  of  meat^  offered  to  idols  and  to 
other  idolatrous  practices.  This  class  of 
questions  usually  arose  in  churches  com- 
posed of  both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Where 
no  vital  principle  was  involved  the  Apostle 
always  advised  the  application  of  the  law 
of  love  and  the  principle  (if  mutual  forbear- 
ance, and  especially  that  the  strong  should 
bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak. 


"Moshcim's  Church  History,  pp.  28,  29. 

50 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


DIVISIONS  AT  CORINTH. 

More  serious  differences,  however,  arose 
in  the  church  at  Corinth,  where  they  as- 
sumed the  form  of  incipient  divisions.  The 
root  of  these  differences  seems  to  have  been 
personal  preferences.  Most  church  histo- 
rians are  agreed  in  associating  the  rise  of 
these  differences  with  the  visit  of  Apollos, 
the  eloquent  Alexandrian  Jew,  who  visited 
that  city.  "The  immediate  occasion  of  this 
factional  development,"  says  Dr.  McGiffert, 
in  his  ''Apostolic  Age,"  "is  not  far  to  seek. 
It  was  evidently  due  to  the  presence  of 
Apollos,  who  had  come  to  Corinth  not  long 
after  Paul's  departure  from  the  city,  and 
had  labored  there  for  some  time"  (Acts 
18:27).  Concerning  the  local  situation 
there,  Paul  says  (1  Cor.  1  :i2)  :  "Xow  this 
I  mean,  that  each  of  you  sayeth,  I  am  of 
Paul ;  and  I  of  Apollos ;  and  I  of  Cephas ; 
and  I  of  Christ."  In  his  "Life  of  St.  Paul" 
(p.  130)  James  Stalker  describes  this  fac- 
tional movement  at  Corinth  as  follows : 
"The  body  of  the  members  was  split  up  into 
four  theological  factions.  Some  called 
themselves  after  Paul  himself.  These 
treated  the  scruples  of  the  weaker  breiliren 
51 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


about  meats  and  other  things  with  scorn. 
Others  took  the  name  of  Apollonians  from 
Apollos,  an  eloquent  teacher  from  Alexan- 
dria, who  visited  Corinth  between  Paul's 
second  and  third  journeys.  These  were  the 
philosophical  party ;  they  denied  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  because  it  was  ab- 
surd to  suppose  that  the  scattered  atoms 
of  the  dead  body  could  ever  be  reunited 
again.  The  third  party  took  the  name  of 
Peter,  or  Cephas,  as  in  their  Hebrew  purism 
they  preferred  to  call  him.  These  were 
narrow-minded  Jews,  who  objected  to  the 
liberality  of  Paul's  views.  The  fourth 
party  affected  to  be  above  all  parties  and 
called  themselves  simply  Christians.  Like 
many  despisers  of  the  sects  since  then  who 
have  used  the  name  of  Christian  in  the 
same  way,  these  were  the  most  bitterly 
sectarian  of  all  and  rejected  Paul's  author- 
ity with  malicious  scorn." 

We  can  quite  well  understand  how  a 
party  animated  by  a  purely  sectarian  spirit 
might  use  the  name  of  Christ  to  accom- 
plish its  factional  purpose.  Such  a  thing 
is  not  unknown  in  our  day.  It  may  well 
be  questioned,  however,  whether  this  state- 
ment by  Dr.  Stalker,  which  we  think  is 
52 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


held  by  a  number  of  other  Bible  scholars, 
is  justified  by  the  facts  in  the  case  at  Cor- 
inth. Paul's  treatment  of  the  situation 
does  not  seem  to  favor  that  view.  We  are 
inclined,  on  the  whole,  to  agree  with  Dr. 
McGiffert  as  to  the  true  nature  of  this 
alleged  fourth  party  in  Corinth.  He  does 
not  believe  there  was  any  fourth  party  at 
Corinth.  "Had  there  been."  he  says,  "Paul 
could  hardly  have  spoken  in  the  unguarded 
way  he  does  in  his  epistle  to  those  who  were 
Christ's."  After  mentioning  other  objec- 
tions to  the  view  Dr.  McGiffert  adds : 

"But  the  decisive  argument  against  the 
existence  of  any  Christ-party  in  the  Corinth- 
ian church  is  to  be  found  in  i  Cor.  3:22,  sq. 
In  that  passage,  at  the  close  of  his  discus- 
sion of  the  divisions,  and  at  the  very  climax 
of  his  denunciation  of  the  party  spirit.  Paul 
speaks  of  three  parties,  but  says  nothing 
whatever  of  the  fourth,  or  Christ-party, 
which,  according  to  the  common  theory, 
was  the  worst  and  most  dangerous  of  all. 
And  more  than  that,  he  plays  directly  into 
the  hands  of  that  party,  if  it  existed,  by 
exhorting  all  the  Corinthians  to  range  them- 
selves under  the  banner  of  Christ.  'All 
things  are  yours,'  he  cries,  'whether  Paul,  or 
53 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


Apollos,  or  Cephas ;  .  .  .  all  are  yours : 
and  ye  are  Christ's.'  In  view  of  these  con- 
siderations, it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that 
there  was  a  fourth  faction  in  Corinth,  call- 
ing itself  by  the  name  of  Christ.  And  in- 
deed, when  carefully  examined,  the  pas- 
sage in  which  the  parties  are  referred  to 
is  seen  itself  to  imply  the  existence  of  only 
three.  The  words  in  verse  13,  'Is  Christ 
divided  ?'  indicate  that  the  fault  of  the  Cor- 
inthians was  not  that  they  were  rejecting 
Christ,  and  substituting  another  leader  for 
him,  but  that  they  were  dividing  him.  The 
implication  is,  that  they  all  regarded  them- 
selves as  alike  under  the  banner  of  Christ, 
but  that  some  were  Pauline  Christians ; 
some  Apollos-Christians ;  some  Cephas- 
Christians.*  It  seems  clear,  therefore,  that 
the  fourth  term  of  verse  12  was  not,  like  the 
first  three  terms,  a  party  watchword,  but 
that  it  constituted  the  cry  of  other  Corin- 
thian disciples  who  belonged  to  none  of  the 
three  factions,  and  who.  disgusted  at  the 
display  of  party  spirit,  declared  against  all 
such  divisions  and  announced  their  allegi- 
ance to  Christ  alone.    With  such  a  course 


'Much  as  in  our  day  we  have  Lutheran  Christians,  Cal- 
vinist  Christians,  Wcsleyan  Christians,  etc. 

54 


THLl  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


Paul  himself  must  have  been  in  hearty  sym- 
pathy. It  was,  in  fact,  just  what  he  ex- 
horted all  the  others  to  do.  'Do  not  divide 
Christ,'  he  says  in  effect.  'We,  Paul  and 
Apollos  and  Cephas,  whom  ye  are  making 
the  leaders  of  your  parties,  are  only  build- 
ers ;  Christ  is  the  one  foundation  upon 
whom  we  all  build ;  we  are  all  Christ's,  and 
ye  are  all  Christ's.'  "* 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  cause 
and  nature  of  these  parties  in  the  Corinth- 
ian church,  there  is  no  evidence  that  either 
Peter,  Paul,  or  Apollos  were  directly  re- 
sponsible for  such  division.  They  were 
simply  the  occasion  of  the  development  of 
these  differences.  No  doubt  they  repre- 
sented different  types  of  mind  and  each 
had  his  own  peculiar  way  of  presenting  the 
truth,  but  they  were  all  loyal  to  a  common 
Master.  These  parties  never  came  to  an 
open  rupture,  though  it  was  perhaps  only 
prevented  by  the  timely  and  vigorous  pro- 
test of  Paul.  These  party  cries,  "I  am  of 
Paul;"  "I  am  of  Cephas;"  "I  am  of  Apol- 
los," however,  were  prophetic  of  future 
divisions  which  were  destined  to  mar  the 
unity  of  Christ's  Church. 


•The  Apostolic  Age,  pp.  296,  297. 

55 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


"l  AM  OF  CHRIST/' 

We  have  already  expressed  our  concur- 
rence in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  McGiffert  that 
the  brethren  in  Corinth  who  said,  "I  am  of 
Christ,"  did  not  represent  a  fourth  faction 
equally  partisan  with  the  others,  but  were 
making  a  rational  protest  against  the  ten- 
dency to  divide  up  into  factions  designated 
by  certain  favorite  leaders.  The  rebuke  of 
Paul — "Is  Christ  divided?  Was  Paul  cruci- 
fied for  you?  Or  were  ye  baptized  into  the 
name  of  Paul  ?" — is  favorable  to  that  view, 
as  is  also  the  fact  that  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  ground  for  a  fourth  faction  either 
in  doctrinal  divergencies  or  in  personal 
leadership.  Those  who  claimed  Peter  as 
their  leader  were  probably  Jewish  Chris- 
tians of  the  more  conservative  class,  while 
the  more  liberal,  who  treated  with  perhaps 
too  little  respect  the  scruples  of  the  con- 
servatives, claimed  to  be  followers  of  Paul. 
There  would  be  certain  to  be  Creeks,  in 
Corinth,  who  would  be  carried  away  with 
the  eloquence  of  Apollos,  of  Alexandria, 
who,  not  unnaturally,  might  have  mingled 
some  of  the  Alexandrian  philosophy  with 
the  Gospel.  These  were  the  three  leaders 
56 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


who,  innocently  perhaps,  or  at  least,  uncon- 
sciously, had  stirred  up  this  factional  feel- 
ing. Is  it  not  probable  that  there  were, 
among  the  wiser  heads  and  more  irenic 
spirits  of  the  Church,  some  members  who, 
possessing  the  gift  of  knowledge,  were  able 
to  see  that  all  the  saving  truth  preached  by 
these  three  leaders  came  from  Christ,  and 
who  would  protest  against  these  divisions 
based  on  partial  views,  and  express  their 
attitude  in  contrast  with  that  of  others  by 
saying,  "I  am  of  Christ"  ?* 

Rut,  after  all,  there  is  a  more  important 
and  fundamental  question  than  the  above. 


•An  interesting  question  emerges  at  this  point:  Sup- 
posing that  the  incipient  division  at  Corinth  had  ripened 
into  open  schism,  and  that  Paulinians,  Apollonians,  and 
Cephasites  had  set  up  as  independent  denominations,  each 
having  formulated  a  creed  to  express  its  particular 
views,  and  the  protesting  members  had  stood  fast  on  the 
common  foundation,  owning  Christ  alone  as  Leader,  what 
would  have  been  the  status  of  this  part  of  the  Church 
occupying  the  original  ground?  Of  course,  the  world 
would  have  regarded  it  as  one  of  the  four  denominations; 
but  in  its  essential  characteristics  it  would  certainly 
have  been  different  from  the  three  parties  mentioned 
above.  Sho-.ild  any  body  of  Christians  toMay  put  them- 
selves  whol'y  upon  the  original  New  Testament  basis  of 
faith  and  fellowship,  in  order  to  clear  themselves  of  the 
sin  of  schism,  although  they  would  be  popularly  regarded 
as  a  denomination,  being  only  a  part  of  the  general  body 
of  Christ,  yet  their  chief  distinguishing  feature  would 
be  their  undenominational,  or  non-partisan,  character. 
.  57 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


Regardless  of  the  historic  question  as  to 
whether  or  not  there  were,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  a  part  of  the  Church  at  Corinth  who 
occupied  the  common  catholic  ground,  tak- 
ing Christ  alone  as  their  Leader,  was  not 
this  the  very  position  that  ought  to  have 
been  taken  by  the  Church,  and  is  it  not 
precisely  the  position  which  Paul  did  take 
and  which  he  urged  the  whole  Church  to 
take?  That  is  the  real  question  which 
vitally  concerns  us.  Even  if  it  were 
granted  that  those  who  said,  "I  am  of 
Christ,"  were  the  worst  partisans  in  the 
Church,  it  would  not  follow  that  their  posi- 
tion was  wrong,  but  only  that  their  spirit 
was  wrong,  and  we  could  only  regret  that 
there  had  not  been  those  in  the  Church 
in  Corinth  who,  in  sincere  loyalty  to  Christ, 
and  with  due  appreciation  of  all  his  faith- 
ful ministers,  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  would  have  planted  themselves 
upon  the  "one  foundation"  other  than 
which  no  man  can  lay,  protesting  against 
parceling  out  his  truth  among  jealous  and 
warring  factions. 

There  seems  to  be  but  one  possible  an- 
swer to  the  question  we  have  raised  :  There 
should  have  been  in  the  Church  at  Corinth, 
58 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


if  there  were  not,  just  such  a  class  of  Chris- 
tians as  we  have  described — Christians  who 
were  broad-minded  enough  to  accept  the 
truth  no  matter  by  whom  spoken,  and  whose 
loyalty  to  Christ's  teaching  and  Christ's 
Spirit  would  have  led  them  to  stand  like 
a  rock  against  these  divisive  tendencies. 
They  could  not  have  done  this  by  occupying 
a  partisan  position  themselves.  They 
could  not  have  said,  for  instance,  "We  are 
of  John,"  and  made  a  successful  protest 
against  those  claiming  to  be  of  Paul,  or 
Peter,  or  Apollos.  They  must  choose  a 
non-partisan  Leader  who  embodied  in  him- 
self all  the  truth  preached  by  all  his  min- 
isters, and  whose  name  would  be  honored 
and  respected  by  all  his  followers.  They 
should  not,  of  course,  have  said,  "I  am  of 
Christ,"  in  any  boastful  spirit,  or  in  any 
tone  of  personal  superiority,  but  in  pro- 
found humility  and  gratitude,  and  with  un- 
feigned sorrow  that  any  of  their  brethren, 
who  also  were  "of  Christ,"  really,  should 
be  willing  to  allow  that  fact  to  be  obscured 
by  placing  even  an  apostle  as  their  leader. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  for  a  moment 
that  those  who  said,  "I  am  of  Paul" ;  or  "I 
am  of  Apollos";  or  "I  am  of  Cephas";  in- 
59 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


tended  thereby  to  reject  Christ.  It  was  not 
the  sin  of  rejecting  Christ  for  which  Paul 
rebuked  them,  but  .for  dividing  Christ. 
The>  had  allowed  their  zeal  for  some  par- 
ticular truth,  or  phase  of  truth,  preached 
by  their  favorite  leader,  to  obscure  other 
truths,  perhaps  no  less  important,  and  had 
made  these  partial  views  of  truth  their 
rallying  centers  instead  of  Christ,  and  so 
were  torn  into  factions.  They  were  not 
only,  by  this  course,  producing  divisions  in 
the  body  of  Christ,  but  they  were  impov- 
erishing their  own  souls  by  limiting  them- 
selves to  the  truths  preached  by  their  par- 
ticular leaders.  It  was  this  folly  of  build- 
ing on  the  partial  truth  in  the  person  of 
Christ's  ministers  instead  of  on  the  whole 
truth  incarnate  in  Christ,  that  led  Paul  to 
that  magnificent  outburst  of  catholicity : 
"W  herefore  let  no  man  glory  in  men.  For 
all  things  are  yours ;  whether  Paul,  or 
Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life, 
or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to 
come ;  all  are  yours ;  and  ye  are  Chi  ist's ; 
and  Christ  is  God's." 


60 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


was  the  unity  oe  the  early  church 

"organic"  ? 

Perhaps  there  is  no  one  term  that  has 
entered  into  the  discussion  of  Christian 
union  in  modern  times  that  has  been  more 
confusing  than  this  word  "organic."  Some 
of  those  who  labor  and  pray  for  the  real- 
ization of  Christ's  prayer  for  the  unity  of 
his  disciples  express  themselves  as  opposed 
to  "organic  unity" ;  while  others  declare 
that  nothing  short  of  "organic  unity"  meets 
the  demands  of  Christ's  prayer.  It  is  prob- 
able that  these  two  classes  of  unionists  do 
not  differ  so  much  in  reality  as  they  do  in 
the  meaning  they  attach  to  the  term,  "or- 
ganic." This  is  a  good  place,  therefore,  to 
raise  the  question,  Was  the  unity  of  the 
Church  in  the  apostolic  age  "organic 
unity"  ? 

When  we  face  the  facts  of  the  apostolic 
age,  what  we  find  is  a  group  of  local 
churches  having  their  origin  in  a  common 
faith,  which  held  them  in  allegiance  to  one 
common  Lord.  There  was  no  general  or- 
ganization of  an  external  kind  of  which 
these  several  congregations  were  compo- 
nent parts,  as  is  the  case  with  many  of  our 
'  61 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


modern  ecclesiastical  organizations.  They 
were  united  to  Christ  and  to  each  other  by 
the  internal  bond  of  faith  in,  love  for,  and 
personal  allegiance  to,  a  common  Master 
whom  they  acknowledged  as  Savior  and 
Lord.  Their  unity  was  not  the  result  of 
external  authority,  for  even  the  apostles, 
whose  influence  was  no  doubt  very  great, 
governed  not  so  much  by  their  official  au- 
thority as  by  their  spiritual  character  and 
their  intimate  knowledge  of  Christ.  "It  was 
the  permanent  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  souls  of  believers,  as  an  illuminating  and 
sanctifying  power,  that  united  them  in  one 
body."* 

If  the  term  "organic,"  therefore,  be  used 
to  signify  one  external  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization, with  a  central  power  or  earthly 
head  controlling  it.  it  is  clear  that  no 
such  "organic"  union  existed  in  the  apos- 
tolic age.  No  doubt,  if  the  conditions 
had  been  favorable,  the  local  churches 
of  that  age  would  have  co-operated  to  a 
much  larger  extent  than  they  did  in  the 
furtherance  of  the  common  interests  of 


'History  of  the  Christian  Age,  by  Professor  George  P. 
Fisher,  p.  19. 

62 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


the  kingdom,  but  it  is  not  likely  that 
any  organization  which  might  have  been 
necessary  for  such  co-operation  would 
have  been  permitted,  during  that  age,  to 
exercise  any  legislative  authority  over  the 
local  congregations,  or  to  formulate  in  any 
authoritative  way  a  statement  of  doctrine 
that  would  have  been  binding  upon  the 
churches.  At  any  rate,  we  are  safe  in  say- 
ing that  no  such  organization  existed.* 

"If  we  wish  to  speak  correctly  of  'the 
Church'  as  it  has  historically  appeared, 
with  reference  to  organization,  we  shall 
be  obliged  to  define  it  in  a  very  catholic 
and  comprehensive  manner,  as  including 
the  sum  of  those  organizations  which  have 
been  formed  to  serve  as  organs  of  Christ, 
for  the  expression  and  promotion  of  his 


•"The  basis  of  ecclesiastical  organization  was  the 
equality  of  believers.  'All  ye  are  brethren.'  Instead  of 
a  sacerdotal  order  there  was  a  universal  priesthood.  *  *  » 
Complaints  on  the  part  of  one  disciple  against  another 
were  to  be  carried  to  'the  church/  the  body  of  disciples, 
with  the  apostles  at  their  head.  His  injunctions  to  the 
apostles  to  superintend  the  flock,  and  the  rites  of  bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  supper,  imply  definite  association. 
The  synagogue  naturally  served  as  a  model  in  the  or- 
ganization of  churches.  They  are  even  called  by  that 
name  in  the  Epistle  of  James  (James  2:2).  This  was 
their  character  at  the  outset."  Professor  George  P. 
fisher,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  p.  J5. 

1  63 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


religion.  If  we  accept  a  definition  that  ap- 
plies to  some  one  of  these  alone,  we  leave 
unincluded  much  of  the  organized  fruit  of 
Christ  in  the  world,  and  thus  do  injustice 
to  the  facts  that  we  are  considering.  It 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  the  providen- 
tial purpose  that  all  Christians  should  be 
gathered  into  one  great  organization,  and  it 
does  not  seem  probable  that  such  a  purpose 
will  hereafter  be  manifested  by  the  fulfill- 
ment of  it.  Organization,  helpful  as  it  is, 
is  a  very  different  thing  from  that  inner 
life  of  the  soul  in  God  in  which  religion 
consists,  and  can  not  properly  be  counted 
as  a  part  of  religion.  But  it  certainly  is 
the  divine  will  and  pleasure  that  Christians 
should  be  together,  united  in  some  practical 
order  for  mutual  benefit  and  common  serv- 
ice to  their  Lord.  Any  company  of  Chris- 
tians gathered  in  his  name  for  this  purpose, 
has  the  promise  of  the  Master's  presence 
(Matt.  18:20).  Any  group  of  Christians 
that  offers  itself  to  Christ  is  an  organ  of 
Christ,  through  which  he  may  express  him- 
self in  his  own  activities.  The  Church,  re- 
garded as  the  sum  of  all  the  actual  organi- 
zations, has  been  a  powerful  help  to  the 
Christian  purpose  in  the  world.  No  or- 
64 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


ganization  has  promise  of  perpetuity,  apart 
from  its  fitness  for  the  Master's  use,  and 
Christianity  may  yet  express  itself  in  new 
forms,  if  the  old  prove  insufficient  or  un- 
adapted  to  its  growing  needs."* 

Xo  candid  student  of  the  New  Testament 
will  call  in  question  this  statement  of  Dr. 
Clarke.  The  idea  of  the  church  organiza- 
tion, or  church  government,  as  it  is  often 
called,  assumed  a  prominence  in  after  years, 
and  has  held  it  to  the  present  time,  which  it 
nowhere  has  in  the  New  Testament.  What 
we  find  there  is  a  new  life,  entering  into  the 
world  through  Christ,  and  organizing  itself 
so  as  to  give  expression  to  its  real  charac- 
ter, and  to  extend  its  principles  among  men. 
Life  precedes  and  creates  organization,  and 
not  vice  versa.  One  of  the  most  important 
steps  that  can  be  taken  toward  Christian 
unity  is  the  frank  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  the  New  Testament  furnishes  us  no 
prescribed  form  of  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion, beyond  the  local  church,  and  this 
seems  to  have  been  the  natural  expression 
of  that  divine  life  in  men  which  drew  them 
together  in  common  fellowship  and  serv- 

*An  Outline  of  Christian  Theology,  by  Wm.  Newton 
Clarke,  U.  D.,  pp.  381,  382. 

(5)  •  65 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


ice.  When  this  fact  is  once  clearly  grasped 
all  hope  of  uniting  a  divided  church  on  the 
basis  of  an  "historic  episcopate,"  or  under 
the  authority  of  an  infallible  pope,  vanishes 
as  an  idle  dream.  Even  if  such  a  union 
were  possible  it  would  not  be  Christian 
union ;  but  it  is  not  possible. 

But  if  there  were  no  organic  unity  in 
the  sense  of  one  ecclesiastical  organization 
embracing  all  the  churches  in  the  apostolic 
age,  in  what  sense  was  the  Church  one,  and 
how  can  we  conceive  of  it  as  a  divine  or- 
ganism ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  Christ's  disciples  are  bound 
to  him  by  a  spiritual  tie.  The  union 
was  spiritual,  but  manifested  itself  in 
many  visible  ways.  The  apostles  were 
missionaries,  rather  than  rulers,  in  the 
modern  sense,  and  yet  their  influence 
was  very  great,  no  doubt,  in  settling 
controversies  and  in  promoting  and  main- 
taining unity  among  the  churches.  In 
spite  of  the  fact,  however,  that  there  was 
no  ecclesiastical  system  with  an  author- 
itative head,  it  remains  true,  as  we  have 
before  stated,  that  the  Church  of  the 
apostolic  age  was  undivided.  It  was  one 
66 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 

Church.  Its  unity  consisted  in  the  fact 
that  each  of  the  churches  making  up  the 
one  Church  of  God  had  the  "one  Lord, 
one  faith  and  one  baptism"  (Ephesians 
4:5).  They  had  each  the  same  founda- 
tion, the  same  creed,  and  the  same  in- 
itiatory ordinance.  Jesus  Christ  was 
their  one  Leader  and  Lord ;  faith  in  him 
was  the  essential,  saving  faith,  and  when 
this  living  faith  manifested  itself  in  the 
one  baptism,  the  believer  was  admitted 
without  question  into  the  fellowship  of 
the  saved.  The  faith  which  united  them 
was,  in  other  words,  a  personal  faith, 
and  not  the  acceptance  of  any  doctrinal 
statement.  The  evidence  of  this  faith 
was  the  willingness  to  confess  Christ 
with  the  mouth  and  to  surrender  to  him 
in  the  act  of  baptism,  which  symbolized 
in  its  form  the  same  truth  which  had 
been  confessed  with  the  mouth.  So  long 
as  this  state  of  things  lasted  there  could  be 
no  such  thing  as  rival  sects,  rival 
creeds  and  rival  party  leaders.  A  mem- 
ber in  good  standing  in  any  one  of  the 
churches  of  the  apostolic  age  would 
have  been  readily  admitted  into  any 
other  church,  because  they  all  together 
67 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


made  up  what  Paul  called  the  "body  of 
Christ." 

This  leads  us  to  the  kind  of  organic 
unity  which  did  exist,  to  some  degree  at 
least,  in  the  apostolic  age,  and  which  exists 
to  a  perfect  degree  in  the  ideal  Church  of 
which  Paul  speaks.  This  conception  of 
the  Church  is  presented  by  Paul  more  fully 
in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians. 
The  Church  is  conceived  of  as  the  "body 
of  Christ,"  while  he  is  its  head,  and  all 
Christians  are  regarded  as  members  of  that 
body.  "For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath 
many  members,  and  all  the  members  of  the 
body,  being  many,  are  one  body ;  so  also 
is  Christ.  For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all 
baptized  into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or 
Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free ;  and  were 
all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit"  (i  Cor. 
12:13).  So  completely  is  Christ  identified 
with  his  Church  in  this  passage  that  the 
term  "Christ"  seems  to  be  used  for  the 
Church  in  the  twelfth  verse. 

Of  course,  that  is  an  ideal  unity  that 
has  never  yet  been  realized,  but  it  is  one 
toward  which  the  Church  must  continue  to 
approach  as  it  becomes  more  and  more  an 
organ  for  the  complete  expression  of  the 
68 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


mind  and  will  of  Christ,  and  all  its  individ- 
ual members,  each  according-  to  the  meas- 
ure of  his  ability,  shall  fulfill  his  function 
in  the  divine  organism.  That  term  organ- 
ism expresses  perhaps  just  what  many  of 
us  mean  when  we  say  we  believe  in  or- 
ganic union.  It  is  sometimes  held  that  an 
organism  is  a  divine  thing,  while  organiza- 
tion is  human.  The  use  of  the  two  words, 
however,  hardly  justifies  this  broad  dis- 
tinction. "The  universe  is  not  a  machine, 
but  an  organism,  with  an  indwelling  princi- 
ple of  life,"  says  Prof.  John  Fiske,  in  his 
"Idea  of  God."  "Christianity  stands  in  or- 
ganic connection  with  the  Old  Testament 
religion,  both  being  parts  of  a  gradually  de- 
veloping system,"  says  Professor  Fisher,  in 
his  "Beginnings  of  Christianity."  An  or- 
ganism is  defined  by  the  Century  Diction- 
ary as:  "A  body  exhibiting  organization 
and  organic  life;  a  member  of  the  animal 
or  vegetable  kingdom  ;  an  individual  com- 
posed of  a  number  of  essential  and  mutually 
dependent  parts,  all  of  which  partake  of  a 
common  life;"  "anything  that  is  organized 
or  organic.*'  It  will  he  seen  from  these 
Statements  and  definitions  that  the  meanings 
of  the  two  terms  glide  into  each  other,  and 
$9 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


to  some  extent  they  seem  to  have  a  common 
meaning.  There  is  this  distinction,  how- 
ever :  an  organism  always  has  life,  and  all 
its  component  parts  share  in  that  common 
life ;  an  organization  which  may  have  re- 
sulted from  life,  may  exist  after  the  life 
has  departed.  The  Church,  as  a  divine 
organism,  has  manifested  its  life  in  a  variety 
of  organizations  under  different  conditions, 
but  there  is  no  one  external  organization 
that  embraces  all  the  component  parts  of 
that  divine  organism  which  we  call  the 
Church,  all  of  whose  members  share  in  a 
common  life,  even  the  life  of  God. 

To  return,  then,  to  the  question  with 
which  we  began :  Was  the  unity  of  the 
early  Church  organic  ?  we  reply : 

1.  It  was  not  organic  in  the  sense  of  be- 
ing one  external  ecclesiastical  organization, 
for  no  such  organization  existed. 

2.  It  was  an  organic  unity  only  in  the 
sense  that  the  various  local  churches  and 
individual  members  were  united  to  Christ 
and  to  each  other  by  a  common  faith  and 
a  common  life.  It  was  a  vital,  not  a  me- 
chanical, union — an  organism  rather  than 
an  organization. 

And  yet  it  was  a  visible  union,  in  this, 
70 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


that  all  men  could  see  by  the  faith  and  the 
practice,  the  life  and  the  fellowship,  of 
these  various  churches  that  they  had  one 
common  Master,  and  had  partaken  of  his 
life  and  were  governed  by  his  will.  For 
the  sake  of  avoiding  confusion,  it  would 
perhaps  be  better  to  discard  the  term 
"organic"  while  we  plead  for  a  real,  visible 
and  manifested  unity,  which  will  show  to 
the  world  our  oneness  in  our  divine  Lord. 

summing  up  results  of  our  study 
thus  Far. 

Before  we  pass  on  to  a  brief  study  of  the 
Post-Apostolic  Age,  let  us  pause  long 
enough  to  gather  up  some  of  the  principal 
results  of  our  study  of  the  first  century,  as 
respects  the  unity  of  the  Church  of  that 
period. 

t.  The  Church  of  the  Apostolic  Age  was 
one  and  undivided.  It  existed  in  numerous 
local  assemblies  or  churches,  some  of  them 
widely  separated,  geographically,  but  all 
constituting  the  one  Church  of  the  one  liv- 
ing and  true  God.  There  were  no  denomi- 
nations, in  our  modern  sense  of  that  word, 
the  members  of  which  regarded  themselves 
as  belonging  to  separate  and  independent 
71 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


bodies,  differing  from  each  other  in  their 
bases  of  fellowship  and  conditions  of  mem- 
bership. A  member  in  good  standing  in 
any  one  local  church  was,  by  virtue  of  that 
fact,  eligible  to  membership  in  every  other 
church. 

2.  The  bond  of  unity  in  that  age  was 
personal  faith  in  and  allegiance  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Xo  other  faith  than  this  was 
required  as  a  condition  of  church  member- 
ship and  fellowship.  "What  think  ye  of 
Christ:  whose  Son  is  he?"  was  the  great 
and  decisive  question  of  that  age.  Who- 
ever confessed  h  im,  as  Peter  did,  as  "the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  and 
was  willing  to  turn  away  from  his  sins,  was 
straightway  baptized  into  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  numbered  with  the  saved.  This 
was  the  simple  creed,  and  this  the  simple 
method  of  initiation.  There  were  only 
two  ordinances — baptism  and  the  .Lord's 
supper — the  one  commemorating  Christ's 
death  for  our  sins,  and  the  other  his  burial 
and  resurrection  from  the  dead.  Baptism 
symbolized  also  the  believer's  death  tc  sin. 
and  he  was  henceforth  expected  to  "walk- 
in  newness  of  life."  It  was  in  view  of  these 
facts  that  Paul  could  say,  "There  is  one 
72 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


body  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  also  ye  were 
called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling ;  one 
Lord  ;  one  faith  ;  one  baptism  ;  one  God  and 
Father  of  all,  who  is  over  all,  and  through 
all,  and  in  all'*  (Eph.  4:4-6). 

3.  The  fruit  of  this  common  faith  in  a 
common  Lord  was  the  love  these  disciples 
bore  to  one  another.  Jesus  had  taught 
them  the  "new  commandment,"  that  they 
should  love  each  other  even  as  he  had  loved 
them.  This  was  the  great  distinguishing 
feature  of  the  Christians  of  that  age.  "By 
this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disci- 
ples, if  ye  have  love  one  to  another"  (John 
1 3  :35 )  •  The  apostles  repeated  the  instruc- 
tion of  Jesus  in  this  respect.  "Love  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law,"  said  Paul.  "We 
know  that  we  have  passed  out  of  death  into 
life,"  said  John,  "because  we  love  the 
brethren"  ( i  John  3:14).  Love  for  one 
another  was  connected  with  faith  in  Jesus, 
as  constituting  the  divine  requirement  of 
■men:  "And  this  is  his  commandment,  that 
we  should  believe  in  the  name  of  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ  and  love  one  another,  even  as 
he  gave  us  commandment"  (1  John  3:23). 
"Above  all  things  being  fervent  in  your 
love  among  yourselves ;  for  love  covcreth 
73 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


a  multitude  of  sins,"  said  Peter  (i  Pet. 
4:8).  The  apostles  are  frequently  spoken 
of  as  preserving  unity  by  their  official  au- 
thority ;  but  it  is  clear  that  they  relied  not 
upon  their  authority  to  promote  and  per- 
petuate unity,  but  upon  the  bond  of  allegi- 
ance to  Christ  and  love  for  one  another. 
They  did  indeed  serve  to  preserve  unity 
in  the  Church  of  the  first  century,  but  it  was 
by  refusing  to  lord  it  over  men's  faith  and 
by  their  wise  emphasis  upon  the  things 
which  unite. 

4.  As  to  organic  unity,  the  Church  was 
conceived  of  as  a  divine  organism — the 
body  of  Christ — of  which  he  was  the  liv- 
ing head.  All  who  received  life  through 
Christ  were  regarded  as  being  a  part  of 
that  divine  organism.  That  was  the  ideal 
Church  of  Paul.  There  was  no  one  ex- 
ternal ecclesiastical  organization  with 
grades  of  officials,  from  lower  to  higher, 
culminating  in  a  supreme  earthly  head, 
whether  that  head  be  considered  a  pope,  a 
council  or  an  assembly.  The  self-govern- 
ing congregations  appointed  bishops  and 
deacons  to  look  after  their  spiritual  and 
temporal  needs,  and  evangelists  to  carry 
the  good  news  into  the  regions  beyond,  and 
74 


THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 

that  was  about  all  the  ecclesiastical  machin- 
ery of  that  age.  And  yet,  the  union  of  the 
Church  in  that  age  was  a  visible  union. 
Real,  vital  union  among  believers,  such  as 
results  from  vital  union  with  Christ,  never 
fails  to  manifest  itself.  Love  can  not  be 
hidden.  It  does  not  conceal  itself  linden 
the  form  of  separation,  harsh  and  unkind 
criticism,  strife  and  open  opposition,  and 
plead  an  internal,  unseen  and  spiritual  love 
which  does  not  deign  to  come  to  the  light ! 
Real  unity  unites.  It  abhors  division  as 
nature  does  a  vacuum.  It  shows  itself  in 
mutual  counsel,  sympathy  and  co-operation. 
If  one  love  the  Lord  with  all  his  heart, 
can  he  hate  another  one  who  also  loves  him 
and  is  seeking  to  extend  his  reign?  But 
if  he  love  his  brother,  who  also  loves 
Christ,  will  he  not  unite  with  him  in  honor- 
ing their  common  Master  by  seeking  others 
to  love  and  serve  him  ?  The  unity  of  the 
early  Church,  in  spite  of  its  diversity  of 
opinions,  manifested  itself  in  avoiding  di- 
visions and  in  holding  steadfastly  to  the 
"one  Lord,  one  faith  and  one  baptism."  It 
showed  itself  in  brotherly  love  (except  in 
the  case  of  certain  factious  spirits  who 
loved  their  traditions  and  personal  interests 
75 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


more  than  their  Lord),  and  in  such  co-op- 
eration as  was  possible  at  that  time.  It 
triumphed  over  the  personal  preferences 
and  partial  views  of  truth,  which  said,  "I 
am  of  Paul,"  "I  of  Apollos,"  and  "I  of 
Cephas,"  and  brought  all  at  last  to  "glory 
not  in  men,"  but  in  Christ,  and  to  give  him 
the  pre-eminence  in  all  things. 

We  go  back  to  the  Apostolic  Age  not  for 
its  types  of  actual  Church  or  individual 
Christian  life,  for  except  in  rare  instances 
these  were  infantile  and  imperfect ;  but  we 
do  well  to  go  back  to  that  creative  period 
for  its  splendid  ideals,  yet  to  be  realized, 
and  for  those  inspired  and  inspiring  truths 
and  principles,  which,  applied  to  our  own 
times,  will  give  us  a  united  Church  and  a 
nobler  Christian  civilization. 


7* 


II 

THE   POST-APOSTOLIC  AGE 


"According  to  the  grace  of  God  which  was 
given  unto  me,  as  a  wise  masterbuilder  I  laid 
a  foundation;  and  another  buildeth  thereon. 
But  let  each  man  take  heed  how  he  buildeth 
thereon."    (i  Cor.  3:10.) 

"He  saith  unto  them,  But  who  say  ye  that 
I  am?  And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said, 
Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God. 
And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him, 
Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-Jonah:  for  flesh 
and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but 
my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  And  I  also  say 
unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter  [Petros],  and 
upon  this  rock  fpetra]  I  will  build  my  church; 
and  the  gates  of  Hades  shall  not  prevail 
against  it."    (Matt.  16:15-18.) 

78 


II 


THE    POST-APOSTOLIC  AGE 

CHANGES  IN  POLITY  AND  DOCTRINE. 

When  we  cross  the  boundary  line  of 
the  first  century  we  soon  become  aware  of 
certain  changes  which  have  taken  place  or 
which  are  in  the  process  of  taking  place  in 
the  Church.  One  of  these  relates  to 
church  government.  In  the  Xew  Testa- 
ment there  are  two  classes  of  officers 
spoken  of  in  the  local  church,  elders  or 
bishops  and  deacons.  Now  we  find  that  in 
each  board  of  elders  there  is  one  to  whom 
the  term  "bishop"  is  specially  applied.  He 
is  still,  however,  only  the  president  of  the 
board  of  elders  and  bishop  of  the  local 
church,  but  there  is  now  a  three  fold  min- 
istry, instead  of  a  two  fold.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  here,  however,  to  deal  with  the 
question  of  "the  historic  episcopate"  except 
in  so  far  as  it  bears  on  our  general  subject 
of  Christian  union. 

There  is  no  question  but  that  the  oc- 
casion of  this  increased  emphasis  upon 
79 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


ecclesiastical  authority,  which  is  so  notice- 
able in  the  second  and  succeeding"  centuries, 
is  the  supposed  necessity  of  having  such 
authority  in  order  to  resist  the  rising  here- 
sies and  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Church. 
Jerome,  the  great  scholar  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, says :  "With  the  ancients,  presbyters 
were  the  same  as  bishops  ;  but  gradually  all 
the  responsibility  was  deferred  to  a  single 
person,  that  the  thickets  of  heresy  might  be 
rooted  out."  Perhaps  the  persecutions  to 
which  the  Church  was  subjected  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  first  century,  and,  with  vary- 
ing degrees  of  intensity,  on  down  to  the 
conversion  of  Constantine,  and  his  eleva- 
tion to  supreme  power  and  his  edict  of 
toleration  in  the  year  312,  had  the  effect  of 
consolidating  the  Church  and  concentrating 
its  authority.  But  whatever  may  have  been 
the  causes  producing  this  increase  of  ex- 
ternal authority  in  the  Church  and  reliance 
upon  such  authority  to  preserve  its  unity, 
the  fact  is  unquestionable,  and  that  is  our 
concern  at  present. 

Along    with    this    gradual    change  in 
church  government,  in  which  authority  is 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  bishops,  and 
later  in  the  hands  of  metropolitan  or  city 
80 


THE  GRAiCO-ROUAN  PERIOD 


bishops,  of  whom  the  bishop  of  Rome  was 
at  first  only  primus  inter  pares,  or  chief 
among  equals,  because  he  was  bishop  of 
the  chief  city,  there  was  another  change 
going  on  destined  to  have  a  no  less  lasting 
effect  on  the  fortunes  of  the  Church.  This 
related  to  doctrine.  The  philosophic  bent 
of  the  Greek  mind  found  congenial  em- 
ployment in  seeking  to  harmonize  the  sim- 
ple but  sublime  facts  and  truths  of  the  Gos- 
pel with  their  philosophy.  "For  a  consid- 
erable time,"  as  Professor  Fisher  tells  us, 
"all  Christian  writings  were  in  the  Greek 
language.  The  services  of  the  Church,  even 
at  Rome,  were  at  first  held  in  that  tongue. 
So  far  did  the  Greek  influence  prevail  that 
not  until  the  beginning  of  the  third  century 
did  Latin  writings  of  any  importance  ap- 
pear, and  even  then  it  is  not  in  Rome,  but  in 
one  of  the  provinces  in  Xorth  Africa,  that 
theological  works  are  first  composed  in  this 
language."  The  group  of  writers  of  this 
period,  known  as  the  Apostolic  Fathers, 
because  they  were  supposed  to  have  known 
personally  some  one  or  more  of  the  apos- 
tles, were  not  thinkers  of  a  high  grade. 
Much  of  their  writings  is  highly  speculative 
and  allegorical.  "The  ablest  writers  of  this 
(6)  81 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


period,"  says  Professor  Fisher,  "were  the 
Alexandrian  teachers.  Alexandria  was  the 
seat  of  a  great  university,  with  its  large 
libraries,  its  learned  professors  and  its 
throng  of  inquisitive  and  active-minded 
youth.  There,  in  the  Jewish  philosophy  of 
Philo,  Plato's  teaching  had  been  blended 
with  the  doctrine  of  Moses  and  the  proph- 
ets, and  by  means  of  allegory  the  Old  Tes- 
tament had  been  made  to  re-echo  with  a 
modified  sound  the  teachings  of  the  Greek 
schools  of  thought.  In  such  a  community, 
as  Christians  multiplied,  the  instruction  of 
catechumens  often  required  doctrinal  ex- 
planations much  more  advanced  than  were 
requisite  in  ordinary  churches.  Thus  the 
catechetical  school  developed  itself  into  a 
theological  seminary,  where  abstruse  points 
of  divinity  were  handled  and  young  men 
were  trained  for  the  clerical  office.  The 
Alexandrian  theology  was  the  first  serious 
attempt,  among  those  who  adhered  to  the 
great  facts  and  truths  of  the  Gospel,  to  ad- 
just the  relations  of  Christian  doctrine  to 
reason  and  philosophy.  It  was  the  first  at- 
tempt to  build  a  bridge  between  Christianity 
and  the  wisdom  of  the  Gentiles."* 


'History  of  the  Christian  Church,  by  Prof.  Geo.  P. 
Fisher,  pp.  71,  72. 

•  82 


THE   POST-APOSTOLIC  AGE 


Thus  in  Alexandria  began  that  philo- 
sophic handling  of  "abstruse  points  of  di- 
vinity" which  gave  rise  to  the  Arian  con- 
troversy and  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
the  Nicene  creed  at  the  council  of  Xice  in 
the  year  325.    This  adoption  of  an  authori- 
tative creed,  other  than  the  simple  one  of 
the  Apostolic  Age,  had  for  its  object  also, 
as  did  the  increase  of  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity, the  refutation  of  heresies  and  the  pre- 
servation of  the  unity  of  the  Church.  The 
two  chief  heresies  of  that  time  were  Ebioni- 
tism  and  Gnosticism,  both  of  which  had 
their   beginnings   in  the  Apostolic  Age. 
The  Ebionites  were  descendants  of  the 
Judaizing  Christians  of  Paul's  day,  who 
continued  to  hold  on  to  the  observances  of 
the  Jewish  law.    Like  all  narrow  sects,  they 
had  subdivided  among  themselves.    It  is 
in  the  very  nature  of  narrowness  and  big- 
otry to  divide  and  subdivide,  as  it  is  the 
nature  of  catholicity  and  charity  to  unite 
and  cement  together.    The  whole  history 
of  religious  thought  shows  that  just  as  any 
religious  movement  anchors  itself  to  the 
past  by  holding  on  to  that  which  has  passed 
away,  division  sets  in,  because  a  part  of  it, 
refusing  to  be  bound  by  the  dead  past,  and 
83 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


sharing  in  the  living  thought  and  growing 
life  of  those  who  seek  to  keep  in  touch  with 
the  living  Christ,  move  on  in  the  stream  of 
progress,  leaving  their  fellows  hehind ;  and 
this  process  repeats  itself  as  long  as  the 
sect  has  vitality  enough  to  beget  those  who 
refuse  to  be  shackled. 

The  Gnostics  denied  that  Christ  had 
come  in  the  flesh ;  they  claimed  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  a  gnosis  or  kind  of  knowledge 
not  accorded  to  ordinary  Christians. 
With  an  Oriental  dualism  they  identified 
evil  with  matter,  much  as  our  "Christian 
Science"  of  to-day,  and  held  that  between 
God  and  man  there  was  a  chain  of  ex- 
istences called  cons,  which  emanated  from 
him  and  filled  up  the  intervening  distance. 
This  sect,  too,  was  divided  into  several 
kinds,  the  differences  between  which  do  not 
concern  us  in  this  study.  They  are  men- 
tioned here  as  showing  what  the  Church 
of  that  period  had  to  contend  with,  and  as 
furnishing  the  occasion  for  the  increase 
of  ecclesiastical  authority  and  the  formation 
of  a  doctrinal  creed,  both  of  which  were 
deemed  necessary  to  preserve  the  unity  of 
the  Church.  But  this  involves  a  fundamen- 
tal change  in  the  very  conception  of  unity, 
84 


THE   POST -APOSTOLIC  AGE 


which  no  longer  consists  in  allegiance  to  a 
common  Savior  and  Lord,  but  in  doctrinal 
uniformity,  or  the  acceptance  of  a  common 
creed,  and  submission  to  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, instead  of  submission  to  Christ 
through  faith  and  to  each  other  through 
love.  The  bond  of  union  has  become,  or  is 
becoming,  external  instead  of  internal. 

The  change  which  we  have  just  men- 
tioned involved  the  substitution  of  an  au- 
thoritative human  creed  for  the  personal 
Christ  as  the  center  of  unity,  and  the 
Church  became  credo-centric  instead  of 
Christo-centric.  The  faith  of  the  heart  in 
a  personal  Savior  was  subordinated  to,  if 
not  replaced  by,  the  assent  of  the  intellect 
to  certain  doctrinal  speculations,  in  the 
matter  of  unity.  This  change  was  revo- 
lutionary in  its  effects  which  unfortunately 
remain  with  us  to  this  day.  To  return  to 
the  Christo-centric  view  of  Christianity 
which  prevailed  in  the  Apostolic  Age  is  the 
task  of  our  time. 

RISK  OF  THB  "CATHOLIC"  CHURCH. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  change  in  doc- 
trine and  polity  which  occurred  during  the 
second  century.    But  there  was  another 
85 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


change,  which,  in  its  far-reaching  conse- 
quences, was  not  less  important  than  that 
which  pertained  to  the  government  of  the 
Church.  It  was  the  introduction  of  the 
idea  and  function  of  the  priesthood  into 
the  Christian  ministry.  This  idea,  'sug- 
gested it  may  be  by  the  custom  of  heathen 
religions,  was  supported  by  examples  from 
the  Jewish  religion  with  which  Christianity 
was  supposed  to  have  a  close  affinity.  This 
idea  naturally  tended  to  exalt  the  ministry, 
and  to  introduce  for  the  first  time  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  "clergy"'  and  the 
"laity."  The  idea  spread  rapidly,  increased 
the  power  of  the  bishops  and  prepared  the 
way  for  the  rise  of  the  "Catholic"  church. 

Professor  Fisher  says:  "The  Church 
stood  forth  after  the  middle  of  the  second 
century  as  a  distinct  body.  It  claimed  to 
be,  in  opposition  to  heretical  and  schismat- 
ical  parties,  the  'Catholic'  church.  Mem- 
bership in  this  visible  church  was  believed 
to  be  necessary  to  salvation.  Within  the 
Church,  and  not  beyond  it,  the  Holy  Spirit 
had  his  abode.  The  unity  of  the  Church 
was  secured  and  cemented  by  the  episco- 
pate— by  the  bishops  viewed  as  the  succes- 
sors to  the  apostles.  The  episcopate,  like 
86 


THE   POST-.-iroSTOLIC  AGE 


the  apostolate,  in  which  Peter  was  the  cen- 
ter of  unity,  was  a  unit.  This  idea  is  de- 
veloped and  insisted  on  by  Cyprian,  who 
was  involved  in  hard  contests  with  dis- 
senting sects."* 

It  is  pertinent  to  remark,  in  this  connec- 
tion, that  the  overfure  of  union  based  on 
the  "historic  episcopate,"  which  was  re- 
ceived from  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  a  few  years  ago,  presented  a  theory 
of  union  which  does  not  reach  any  fur- 
ther back  in  the  history  of  the  church  than 
the  second  century.  It  is  clear  that  the* 
union  which  existed  in  the  apostolic  age 
was  not  "secured  and  cemented  by  the 
episcopate,"  but,  as  we  have  found  in  these 
studies,  was  secured  by  faith  in,  and  alle- 
giance to,  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  was  ce- 
mented by  the  mutual  love  of  the  members. 
Being  united  to  Christ  by  their  mutual  faith, 
they  found  themselves  united  by  a  common 
life  and  the  bond  of  mutual  love.  In  that 
age  there  was  "one  faith,"  but  there  was 
no  attempt  at  uniformity  of  opinions  and 
theological  deductions,  through  the  forma- 
tion of  an  authoritative  doctrinal  creed. 
The  authority  of  Christ  had  not  yielded  to 


'History  of  the  Christian  Church,  p.  57. 

87 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


ecclesiastical  authority,  and  the  freedom 
which  these  early  disciples  had  in  Christ 
had  not  been  surrendered  for  the  sake  of 
conformity  to  doctrinal  standards  and  for 
the  enhancement  of  the  power  of  the  bish- 
ops. Any  union,  therefore,  based  on  the 
authority  of  bishops,  considered  as  suc- 
cessors to  the  apostles,  who  have  had  no 
successors,  and  could  not  have,  in  their 
apostolic  office,  does  not  go  back  far 
enough,  and  does  not  rest  upon  the  founda- 
tion on  which  Jesus  said  he  would  build 
his  Church.  It  is,  therefore,  an  impossible 
basis  of  union  which  our  Episcopal  breth- 
ren present,  and,  while  we  honor  their  zeal 
for  the  unity  of  Christ's  Church,  we  never 
expect  to  see  it  accomplished  on  the  basis 
which  they  propose,  nor  on  any  basis  of 
ecclesiastical  authority. 

But  there  arc  sincere  friends  of  Chris- 
tian union,  who  long  to  see  the  divisions  in 
the  Church  of  Christ  healed  and  who,  while 
repudiating  the  idea  of  effecting  such  a 
union  on  the  basis  of  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity, cling  to  the  view  that  there  must  be 
the  acceptance  of  a  common  doctrinal 
creed  in  order  to  a  real  Christian  union. 
Perhaps  no  one  would  venture  to  say  that 
88 


THE   POST-APOSTOLIC  AGE 


any  such  creed  now  in  existence  would 
serve  as  a  basis  on  which  all  Christians 
could  unite,  but  they  are  not  without  hope 
that  such  a  creed  can  be  formed.  Xor 
can  they  see  how  we  are  going  to  keep 
heretics  out  of  the  Church  without  such 
a  doctrinal  statement.  We  might  ask 
whether  such  statements  have  served  the 
purpose  of  keeping  heresies  and  heretics 
out  of  the  Church — or  whether  they  have 
not  rather  had  the  effect  of  exciting  un- 
profitable speculations,  and  producing 
schisms  in  the  body  of  Christ.  On  this 
point  what  lesson  does  the  post-apostolic 
age  of  the  Church  teach  us? 

Does  not  the  student  of  church  history 
recall  the  great  doctrinal  controversies 
which  raged  in  that  period  ?  There  was  the 
Arian  controversy,  relating  to  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  to  settle  which  the  Council  of 
Nice  was  called;  and  following  that  there 
was  the  discussion  about  the  numerical 
unity,  or  the  identity  of  the  three  persons 
of  the  Trinity  as  to  substance;  the  rela- 
tion of  the  divine  to  the  human  nature  of 
Jesus,  concerning  which  one  party  was 
condemned  as  heretics;  whether  Christ 
really  had  two  natures  or  only  one,  as  the 
89 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


Monophysites  contended ;  then  there  was 
the  "Homoousian"  and  the  "Homoiousian" 
views,  the  former  that  the  Son  is  of  the 
same  essence  as  the  Father,  the  latter  that 
he  is  of  like  essence,  etc.,  etc.,  to  the  end 
of  the  long  and  weary  chapter.  While  the 
Greeks  were  thus  philosophizing  about  the 
doctrine  of  the  person  of  Christ,  the  Ro- 
mans were  equally  busy  speculating  about 
the  doctrine  of  sin.  As  one  follows  these 
heated  discussions,  notes  the  bitter  feel- 
ings, the  excommunications,  the  exiles  and 
the  schisms  growing  out  of  such  contro- 
versies over  purely  speculative  questions 
which  do  not  belong  to  the  substance  of 
the  faith,  he  can  but  marvel  that  those 
who  professed  to  be  followers  of  Jesus 
could  have  departed  so  far  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  teaching  and  the  meekness 
and  gentleness  of  his  spirit  in  so  short  a 
period  of  time. 

Such  was  the  result  of  an  effort  to  se- 
cure uniformity  of  theological  opinions, 
by  the  formulation  of  doctrinal  statements 
which  were  to  be  binding  on  the  consciences 
of  all  within  the  Church.  "Now,  these 
things  were  our  examples  to  the  intent  we 
should  not  lust  after  evil  things,  as  they 
90 


THE   POST-APOSTOLIC  AGE 


also  lusted" — "evil,"  not  in  intention  but 
in  their  results.- 

So  far  from  being  a  means  of  union  and 
fellowship  among  Christians,  the  formula- 
tion of  authoritative  doctrinal  creeds,  as 
bases  of  union  and  communion,  has  been 
the  one  prolific  source  of  division  and  strife 
in  the  Church  of  God.  The  formation  of 
such  a  creed  was  never  left  to  human  wis- 
dom. When  the  only  authoritative  creed 
was  confessed  by  Simon  Peter,  Jesus  said, 
"Flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto 
thee,  but  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven."* 
Having  such  a  divinely  revealed  creed  on 
which  the  Church  was  originally  one,  why 
should  we  assume  to  formulate  another  to 
serve  as  the  basis  of  union?  Against  the 
publication  of  doctrinal  statements  for  edu- 
cational purposes,  we  say  nothing,  but 
against  the  introduction  of  new  and  unau- 
thorized tests  of  fellowship. 

We  leave  the  study  of  the  post-apostolic 
age,  which  we  have  looked  into  only  for  its 
lessons  on  the  subject  of  Christian  union, 
with  these  conclusions : 

i.  Distinguishing,  as  we  must,  between 
that  natural  and  legitimate  development  in 

'Matt.  16:17. 

91 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


thought  and  adaptation  to  existing  condi- 
tions, and  a  departure  from  essential  and 
abiding  principles,  the  Church  of  the  post- 
apostolic  age  made  a  grievous  mistake  in 
forsaking  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  both 
as  relates  to  doctrine  and  to  polity. 

2.  The  plan  of  maintaining  unity  in  the 
Church  by  increase  of  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, or  the  effort  to  compel  doctrinal 
uniformity  by  the  formulation  of  doctrinal 
creeds,  was  a  departure  from  Christ's 
method  and  proved  a  failure. 


92 


III. 

THE  GRJECO-ROMAN  PERIOD. 


"For  the  time  will  come  when  they  will 
not  endure  the  sound  doctrine;  but,  having 
itching  ears,  will  heap  to  themselves  teachers 
after  their  own  lusts;  and  will  turn  away  their 
ears  from  the  truth,  and  turn  aside  unto 
fables."    (II.  Tim.  4:3,  4.) 

"Now  we  beseech  you,  brethren,  touching 
the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  our 
gathering  together  unto  him;  to  the  end  that 
ye  be  not  quickly  shaken  from  your  mind,  nor 
yet  be  troubled,  either  by  spirit,  or  by  word,  or 
by  epistle  as  from  us,  as  that  the  day  of  the 
Lord  is  just  at  hand;  let  no  man  beguile  you 
in  any  wise:  for  it  will  not  be,  except  the  fall- 
ing away  come  first,  and  the  man  of  sin  be  re- 
vealed, the  son  of  perdition,  he  that  opposeth 
and  exalteth  himself  against  all  that  is  called 
God  or  that  is  worshiped;  so  that  he  sitteth 
in  the  temple  of  God,  setting  himself  forth  as 
God."    (II.  Thess.  2.1-4.) 

94 


III. 


THE  GRJECO-ROMAX  PERIOD. 

There  is  little  in  this  period  that  bears 
upon  the  subject  of  our  study,  except  in  a 
negative  way,  and  it  may  be  dismissed  very 
briefly.  The  tendencies  toward  doctrinal 
refinement  and  concentration  of  ecclesias- 
tical authority  reached  their  culmination  in 
this  age  of  the  church.  The  union  which 
existed  was  not  so  much  the  result  of  unity 
as  of  ecclesiastical  despotism.  The  author- 
itative doctrinal  creed,  which  men  must 
hold  under  pain  of  excommunication  from 
the  Church  and  from  heaven,  and  the  de- 
cisions of  the  papal  authority  in  the  form 
of  decrees  and  anathemas,  were  now  relied 
upon  to  prevent  heresies  and  schisms.  It 
was  all  very  simple.  As  long  as  the 
Church  had  one  supreme  earthly  head, 
whose  decision  on  every  question  of  dif- 
ference was  final,  submission  to  that  su- 
preme authority  was  the  sole  condition  of 
union.  It  was  as  simple  as  the  union  of 
the  Apostolic  Age,  but  the  difference  was 
the  pope  had  usurped  the  place  of  Jesus 
95 


CHRISTIAX  r.V/O.V 


Christ,  and  differences  of  opinion  had  been 
made  uniform  by  authority,  instead  of  be- 
ing left  free  to  work  themselves  out  in 
liberty  under  the  law  of  love. 

The  first  great  division  in  the  Church 
occurred  in  this  period,  namely,  that  be- 
tween the  Eastern  and  Western,  or  Greek 
and  Roman  Catholic  Churches,  as  they  are 
now  known.  Differences  in  doctrine,  and 
rivalry  between  the  sees  of  Rome  and  Con- 
stantinople, had  existed  for  a  long  time, 
but  these  reached  their  culmination  in  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  when 
the  pope  of  Rome  and  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople  issued  bulls  excommunica- 
ting each  other !  The  line  of  cleavage  was 
then  clearly  drawn  and  remains  until  this 
day.  Each  of  these  ecclesiastics  assumed 
that  he  had  the  authority  to  excommuni- 
cate the  other,  and  their  assumptions  were 
about  equally  well-grounded.  The  theory 
of  union  by  authority  vested  in  an  earthly 
head,  and  uniformity  of  doctrine  by  an  au- 
thoritative creed,  had  failed,  even  in  an  age 
when  religious  liberty  and  the  sacred  rights 
of  conscience  did  not  receive  the  emphasis 
which  they  have  in  our  day.  How  idle, 
then,  is  the  dream  of  certain  advocates  of 

96 


THE  GRMCO-ROMAN  PERIOD 


union  who  hope  to  see  it  realized  by  sub- 
mission to  ecclesiastical  authority,  or  by 
conformity  to  a  certain  theory  of  Episcopal 
ordination !  Not  less  vain  is  the  hope  of 
others  that  some  formulation  of  doctrines 
may  be  made  that  will  serve  as  a  basis  of 
union,  on  which  all  believers  may  unite. 
History  has  repeated,  over  and  over,  the 
apostolic  statement :  "Other  foundation  can 
no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ." 

Will  this  historic  division  in  the  Church 
ever  be  healed?  Will  the  long  conflict 
between  the  Roman  Pope  and  the  Greek 
Patriarch  end  in  peace?  With  God  all 
things  are  possible.  Again,  will  the  broad 
chasm  which  separates  both  the  Greek 
and  Roman  Churches  from  Protestant 
Christendom  be  bridged  over,  so  that  there 
shall  be  "one  flock  and  one  Shepherd?" 
Impossible  as  this  may  seem  to  men,  it  is 
not  beyond  the  possibilities  of  divine  wis- 
dom and  power.  Indeed  it  is  not  possible 
to  see  how  Christ's  prayer  for  the  unity  of 
all  who  believe  on  Him  can  be  fulfilled  until 
all  true  believers  within  the  bosom  of  these 
ancient  ecclcsiasticisms  shall  be  delivered 
from  their  bondage  to  human  authority  and 
(7)  97 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


false  teaching,  and  shall  find  in  submission 
to  Christ  alone  both  the  unity  and  the  free- 
dom which  He  alone  can  give  to  His  en- 
slaved and  divided  followers.  This  is  the 
ideal  which  must  be  kept  before  us  even 
while  our  immediate  efforts  be  the  union 
of  Protestants. 

Superstition  and  gross  ignorance  of  the 
Scriptures  prevailed  largely  in  this  period. 
Legalism  had  so  infected  the  Church  that  it 
became  a  burden  to  conscience  as  was  man- 
ifested in  frequent  self-imposed  austerities 
in  the  way  of  penance.  "In  the  devotional 
system  of  the  middle  ages  the  celestial 
hierarchy  of  angels  had  an  important  place. 
Apparitions  of  angels  were  believed  to  be 
not  infrequent.  They  were  protectors 
against  the  demoniacal  spirits  with  which 
the  air  was  peopled.  'The  swarming,  busy, 
indefatigable  malignant  spirits'  claimed  the 
world  of  man  as  their  own.  They  assumed 
grotesque  and  repulsive  forms.  Satan  was 
figured  as  having  horns,  a  tail,  and  the 
cloven  foot.  Connected  with  this  ever- 
present  superstition,  the  torment  of  the 
young  and  the  old,  was  the  belief  in  magic 
spells  and  the  efficacy  of  talismans.  The 
potent  reliance  of  the  timid,  tempted,  and 
98 


THE  GRJECO-ROMAN  PERIOD 


persecuted  soul  was  in  the  help  and  inter- 
cession of  the  saints.  These  multiplied  in 
number  as  time  advanced.  Every  church, 
every  village,  had  its  tutelary  spirits.  The 
miracles  which  they  were  believed  to  have 
wrought  were  numberless."*  These  things 
are  pertinent  here  only  as  showing  the  bane- 
ful results  which  followed  a  false  theory  of 
unity,  which  relied  on  external  authority 
more  than  on  faith,  and  enlightenment 
through  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  on  personal  love  for  and  devotion  to 
Christ. 

But  let  no  one  make  the  mistake  of  sup- 
posing that  there  were  no  true  faith  in 
Christ,  and  no  sincere  piety  and  devotion, 
even  in  that  age  of  superstition  and  au- 
thority. Even  some  of  the  Popes,  and  many 
of  the  bishops,  gave  wise  Christian  instruc- 
tion and  admonition  to  the  Church.  The 
Ten  Commandments,  the  Lord's  prayer, 
and  the  Apostles'  Creed  were  at  least  made 
familiar  to  the  people.  Some  of  the  purest 
and  noblest  examples  of  a  serene  faith  and 
deep  devotion  to  God,  existed  in  that  period 
of  the  Church.  Christianity,  though  cor- 
rupted,   flowed   on    like   a  subterranean 


"Prof.  Geo.  P.  Fisher. 

99 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


stream,  hidden  from  the  world  by  its  out- 
ward excrescences,  but  nevertheless  sweet- 
ening many  a  life  and  keeping  alive  in  the 
world  the  testimony  of  God  concerning 
Christ,  human  sin  and  the  need  of  salva- 
tion through  His  name.  Not  a  few  en- 
lightened minds  taught  of  God,  protested 
against  the  evils  of  the  times.  The  Church 
of  God  was  not  extinct  in  the  world.  The 
gates  of  hades  had  not  prevailed  against  it. 
It  was  a  corrupt  Church,  indeed,  and  an 
apostate  Church,  but  it  was  the- only  Church 
God  had  in  the  world  to  bear  witness  to 
his  name  and  to  promulgate  his  Gospel. 
If  it  had  been  wholly  dead,  and  wholly  cor- 
rupt, entirely  destitute  of  truth  and  spir- 
itual life,  there  could  not  have  issued  from 
it  a  reformation  to  bless  the  world.  That 
reformation  we  are  now  to  study  more  par- 
ticularly to  see  what  lessons  it  can  teach  us 
on  the  subject  of  Christian  union. 


100 


IV. 

THE  PROTESTANT  ERA. 


"If  ye  abide  in  my  word,  then  are  ye  my 
disciples;  and  ye  shall  know  the  truth  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free.  *  *  *  If  there- 
fore the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be 
free  indeed."    (John  8:31-36.) 

"For  freedom  did  Christ  set  us  free:  stand 
fast  therefore,  and  be  not  entangled  again  in 
a  yoke  of  bondage."    (Gal.  5:1.) 

"Then  came  the  disciples  and  said  unto 
him,  Knowest  thou  that  the  Pharisees 
were  offended  when  they  heard  this  saying? 
But  he  answered  and  said,  Every  plant  which 
my  heavenly  Father  planted  not  shall  be 
rooted  up."    (Matt.  15:12,  13.) 

"One  is  your  Master,  and  all  ye  are  breth- 
ren." (Matt.  23:8.) 

102 


IV. 


THE  PROTESTANT  ERA. 

PROM    ECCLESIASTICAL    DESPOTISM    TO  RE- 
LIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

As  the  darkest  hour  is  said  to  be  just 
before  clay,  so  it  proved  in  this  case.  In 
the  darkest  hour  of  an  apostate  church 
there  dawned  the  morning  of  a  brighter 
day.  There  had  been  intimations  of  the 
approaching  day  for  a  long  time.  Here  and 
there  a  morning  star  shone  out  in  the 
darkness  and  heralded  the  coming  dawn. 
It  is  a  part  of  the  divine  philosophy  of 
things  that  falsehood  and  error,  reaching 
a  climax  of  badness,  hasten  their  own 
downfall.  There  is  an  inherent  weakness 
and  source  of  decay  in  all  false  and  cor- 
rupt systems.  The  moral  sentiment  of  the 
best  men  of  the  world  had  been  rising  in 
revolt  against  the  abuses  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  hierarchy  and  its  corrupt  teach- 
ing. The  spirit  of  protest  was  in  the  air. 
It  needed  only  a  strong  personality,  im- 
bued with  the  spirit  of  reform,  to  focalize 
103 


THE  PROTESTANT  ERA 


the  best  religious  sentiment  of  the  times, 
rally  about  it  the  elements  of  reform  which 
had  long  been  in  preparation,  to  introduce 
the  new  era.  Then  came  Luther,  who 
proved  to  be  the  virile  and  inspiring  per- 
sonality needed  to  concentrate  the  forces 
of  reform  and  hurl  them  with  tremendous 
energy  against  the  abuses  and  errors,  both 
in  doctrine  and  life,  of  the  corrupt  church. 
His  coming  was  no  accident.  The  reform 
of  which  he  was  the  leader  was  inevitable. 
It  was  not  born  out  of  due  time.  Like 
all  God's  great  movements  it  came  "in  the 
fulness  of  time" — came  because  it  had  to 
come  if  God's  purposes  were  to  be  fulfilled 
in  the  world. 

Protestantism,  under  Luther's  titanic 
blows,  was  the  dawn  of  religious  liberty 
after  the  long  night  of  ecclesiastical  despot- 
ism. While  the  iron-hearted  reformer  re- 
futed many  errors  in  doctrine  and  de- 
nounced with  great  boldness  the  moral 
corruptions  which  had  disgraced  the  church, 
his  most  important  contribution  to  religious 
reformation  was  his  vigorous  assertion  of 
the  rights  of  conscience  and  the  liberty  of 
each  believer  to  think  for  himself  and  to 
act  in  harmony  with  his  own  convictions 
104 


THE   PROTESTANT  ERA 


of  duty,  holding  himself  directly  account- 
able to  God,  and  not  to  priest,  bishop,  or 
pope.  True,  Luther  was  not  always  con- 
sistent with  this  principle  of  individual  lib- 
erty in  allowing  to  others  the  same  right 
which  he  claimed  for  himself,  but  when  he 
had  succeeded  in  breaking  off  the  shackles 
of  Rome  and  in  sowing  the  seeds  of  re- 
ligious liberty  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
the  people,  no  inconsistent  act  of  his  could 
prevent  the  exercise  of  the  sovereign  right 
of  freedom  of  thought  and  action  of  an 
emancipated  people.  As  often  happens, 
this  newly-found  liberty  was  abused.  In- 
dividualism ran  to  an  extreme.  On  the 
sacred  altar  of  liberty  unity  was  sacrificed. 
Better,  a  thousand  times,  religious  liberty, 
with  its  resulting  divisions,  than  the  unity 
of  despotism  in  which  human  thought  was 
bound  in  fetters,  and  in  which  corruption 
prevailed. 

But  one  can  but  regret  that  Luther 
saw  no  way  by  which  liberty  and  unity 
could  both  be  conserved.  It  is  not  given 
to  any  one  man,  however,  be  he  ever  so 
great,  to  compass  with  his  finite  mind  the 
whole  truth  as  it  is  revealed  in  Jesus 
Christ.  "We  know  in  part,  and  we  proph- 
105 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 

esy  in  part."  Luther  never  escaped  the 
prevalent  idea  of  the  time  concerning  the 
union  of  Church  and  State.  He  did  not 
hesitate  to  use  force  in  carrying  forward 
his  reformation.  He  practiced  the  shrewd- 
est diplomacy  in  winning  the  adhesion  of 
kings  and  potentates  to  his  cause.  He  did 
not  object  to  the  Romish  creed  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  it  was  a  usurpation  of  authority 
in  binding  men  where  God  had  left  them 
free,  but  only  on  the  ground  that  it  con- 
tained errors  which  he  believed  should  be 
eliminated.  He  felt  it,  therefore,  perfectly 
consistent  with  his  reformation  to  assist  in 
formulating  a  new  creed  which  in  its  turn 
should  become  a  bond  of  union  and  a  test 
of  fellowship.  If  only  he  had  been  tall 
enough  to  see  clear  over  the  heads  of  popes 
and  councils  and  all  the  bloody  pages  of 
ecclesiastical  history,  back  to  the  apostolic 
age,  and  to  urge  the  kind  of  union  that 
prevailed  in  that  period,  how  many  con- 
fusing chapters  of  denominational  strifes 
and  divisions  might  have  been  avoided! 
But  perhaps  the  world  was  not  ready  at 
that  time  to  return  to  New  Testament 
Christianity.  Other  reformers  and  refor- 
mations must  come  after  Luther  to  prepare 
106 


THE   PROTEST  AX  T  ERA 


even  the  lovers  of  Christ  to  return  to  the 
simplicity  and  unity  of  the  early  Church. 
But  let  us  not  fail  to  give  Luther  credit 
for  the  great  and  heroic  work  which  has 
left  its  impress  upon  all  subsequent  ages. 
His  aim,  let  us  not  doubt,  was  to  build 
the  Church  in  conformity  with  the  Scrip- 
tures, to  which  he  constantly  made  his  ap- 
peal. It  is  easy  for  us.  living  in  the  light 
of  a  brighter  and  better  day,  to  see  imper- 
fections in  the  work  of  the  great  reformers 
whom  God  has  used  as  instruments  for  the 
accomplishment  of  needed  reformations  in 
their  day.  But  we  do  well  to  remember 
that  we  are  the  "heirs  of  all  the  ages," 
heirs  of  the  religious  light  and  liberty  which 
have  come  through  the  self-sacrificing  la- 
bors and  toils  of  these  mighty  men  of  God. 

Once  the  banner  of  religious  liberty  was 
lifted  to  the  breeze  and  men  felt  that  they 
could  express  their  convictions  without  fear 
of  incarceration  in  prison,  or  death,  all 
kinds  of  men  began  to  give  expression  to 
all  kinds  of  opinions  concerning  subjects 
religious  and  ecclesiastical,  and.  strange 
to  say,  to  urge  these  opinions  and  specula- 
tions with  all  the  dogmatism  and  air  of  in- 
fallibility that  had  marked  the  utterances 
107 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


of  the  popes  themselves !  The  student  of 
ecclesiastical  history  will  recall  the  vari- 
ous types  of  anabaptists  and  anti-pedobap- 
tists  which  promulgated  their  peculiar  doc- 
trines, and  made  converts,  and  the  differ- 
ences which  arose  between  Luther  and 
many  of  his  coadjutors,  and  a  host  of  theo- 
logical champions  who  arose  in  that  time 
to  advocate  their  respective  theories  which 
they  regarded  as  of  primary  importance. 
All  this,  and  much  else  that  followed  in 
later  years,  was  the  inevitable  result  of 
placing  the  emphasis  on  the  intellectual 
side  of  Christianity,  and  the  failure  to 
make  the  proper  distinction  between  faith 
and  theology.  It  was  all  a  vain  effort  to 
make  men  think  alike  on  speculative  ques- 
tions which  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  life 
or  character  of  men.  With  all  of  Luther's 
intellectual  power,  he  never  saw  this  dis- 
tinction, so  vital  to  the  unity  and  welfare 
of  the  Church.  Nor  did  he  ever  see  clearly 
that  the  State  had  one  realm  and  the 
Church  another,  and  that  these  were  to  be 
kept  distinct  and  separate ;  and  that  force 
had  no  legitimate  place  in  the  religion  of 
Him  who  was  "meek  and  lowly  in  heart." 
and  whose  life  and  doctrine  were  directly 
108 


THE   PROTESTANT  ERA 


opposed  to  any  such  method  of  extending 
his  kingdom. 

But,  again,  we  must  remind  ourselves 
that  it  was  not  given  to  Luther,  nor  to  the 
men  of  his  time,  to  bring  the  Church  all  the 
way  from  its  Babylonish  captivity  to  its 
ancient  and  apostolic  heritage  of  freedom 
and  unity.  Enough  for  him  and  his  co- 
adjutors that,  with  clear  vision  and  heroic 
courage,  they  were  able  to  unchain  the 
Bible,  reassert  the  principle  of  Christian 
liberty,  and  inaugurate  a  movement  which 
others,  in  after  years,  should  take  up  and 
carry  forward  to  a  goal  that  is  not  even  yet 
realized.  Jesus  tells  us  that  the  same  law 
prevails  in  the  spiritual  realm  that  we  see 
in  operation  in  the  physical  world — "First 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  grain 
in  the  ear."* 

OTHER  REFORMATIONS. 

Following  the  reformation  of  Luther, 
and  partly  contemporaneous  with  it,  were 
the  reformatory  movements  of  Zwingli,  in 
Switzerland,  and  of  Calvin,  in  Geneva. 
These  later  reformers  profited,  of  course, 

'Mark  4:28. 

109 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


by  the  labors  of  Luther,  and  made  a  still 
further  advance  in  several  respects  toward 
evangelical  doctrine  as  it  is  held  by  the 
best  thought  of  to-day.  They  escaped  some 
of  the  evils  and  false  conceptions  which 
continued  to  cleave  to  Luther  after  his 
break  with  the  Roman  church,  but  they 
were  both  more  or  less  enslaved  by  the  idea 
that  the  fagot  and  the  sword  were  legiti- 
mate weapons  with  which  to  advance  that 
kingdom  of  which  it  was  declared  by  its 
Founder  that  it  is  "not  of  this  world,"  else 
would  his  subjects  fight  for  him.  Zwingli 
apprehended  more  clearly  than  Luther  the 
meaning  and  place  of  the  two  ordinances  in 
Christianity,  and  was  more  influenced  than 
his  great  contemporary  by  the  humanistic 
element  growing  out  of  the  Renaissance. 
Calvin  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  great 
thinkers  of  the  Church  and  left  an  indelible 
impress  both  upon  its  doctrine  and  polity. 
His  teaching  proved  to  be  the  most  virile 
and  persistent  form  of  Protestant  thought 
springing  out  of  that  century.  It  spread 
throughout  France,  was  transplanted 
thence  to  Scotland  through  the  labors  of 
John  Knox,  exerted  a  strong  influence  in 
the  Reformation  in  England,  took  its  place 
110 


THE   PROTESTANT  ERA 


beside  Lutheranism  even  in  Germany,  was 
puissant  in  the  redemption  of  the  Nether- 
lands from  the  persecuting  power  of  Roman 
Catholicism,  and,  being  transplanted  to  the 
New  World,  has  exerted  a  widespread  and 
commanding  influence  in  the  religious 
thought  and  life  of  America.  And  yet  it 
was  not  given  to  John  Calvin  and  his 
brave  coadjutors  to  grapple  successfully 
with  the  problem  of  Christian  union.  The 
authoritative  doctrinal  creed  has  always 
held  a  high  place  in  the  religious  scheme 
of  the  Reformed  churches,  whether  in  the 
Old  or  the  New  World,  and  while  the  spirit 
of  the  times  and  the  growth  of  religious 
liberty  have  made  impossible  the  use  of  the 
fagot,  the  sword,  and  the  prison,  to  en- 
force theological  uniformity,  the  creed  of 
Calvin,  modified  somewhat  by  the  broader 
and  sweeter  spirit  which  now  pervades  the 
Church,  is  still  regarded  by  its  adherents 
as  an  essential  test  of  doctrinal  soundness, 
and  an  adequate  basis  of  ecclesiastical  life. 

The  religious  movement  known  in  the 
Old  World  as  Independency,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  divergence  from  the  Presby- 
terian movement  or  that  of  the  Reformed 
churches  under  the  leadership  of  John 
111 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


Calvin,  in  the  matter  of  church  government. 
It  strongly  emphasized  the  independence  of 
the  local  congregation  and  the  movement 
has  come  to  be  known,  especially  in  this 
country,  as  Congregationalism.  It  had  its 
origin  in  the  Reformation  age,  and  in  doc- 
trine it  was  in  the  beginning  identical  with 
the  Reformed  churches,  that  is  to  say,  Cal- 
vinistic.  In  its  subsequent  development, 
however,  it  has  greatly  modified  the  doc- 
trine of  Calvin,  and  does  not  acknowledge 
the  authority  of  any  general  creed,  holding 
to  the  right  of  each  congregation  to  for- 
mulate its  own  creed.  It  has  laid  great 
emphasis  upon  education,  and  the  institu- 
tions of  learning  which  it  has  planted  are 
among  the  foremost  in  this  country,  and 
through  these  it  has  exerted  a  widespread 
influence,  not  only  upon  the  thought  of  the 
Church,  but  upon  the  life  of  the  Nation. 
While  its  leading  representatives  in  mod- 
ern times  are  favorable  to  the  cause  of 
Christian  unity,  the  movement  as  such,  has 
never  devoted  itself  to  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  unity,  though  it  has  been  an 
important  factor  in  preparing  the  way  for 
such  unification. 

Before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
112 


THE   PROTESTAST  ERA 


tury  the  Reformation  in  England  sadly 
needed  reforming.  When  the  spirit  of 
formalism,  religions  apathy  and  worldli- 
ness  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent,  and 
the  Church  was  losing  its  witnessing  power 
to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  John  Wesley, 
who  graduated  from  Oxford  College  in  the 
year  1726,  soon  afterward,  in  connection 
with  his  brother  Charles,  began  those  re- 
ligious associations  from  which  sprang  the 
great,  widespread  movement  known  as 
Methodism.  This  movement,  like  that  of 
Luther  and  Calvin,  was  an  effort  to  bring 
the  Church  into  closer  conformity  with  the 
Scriptures,  and  to  make  it  more  like  the 
Church  which  the  Master  had  established. 
It  laid  especial  emphasis  upon  the  spiritual 
power  of  Christianity,  as  an  internal  force, 
the  direct  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and  holi- 
ness of  life.  It  was  an  emphasis,  too,  that 
was  greatly  needed  in  those  days  of  spir- 
itual coldness  and  formality,  and  the  neces- 
sity for  it  has  not  ceased  in  our  own  day. 
It,  too,  was  transplanted  into  the  New 
World  and  has  been  a  mighty  factor  in  the 
religious  life  of  this  country.  But  great 
and  important  as  was  the  work  of  Wesley, 
and  of  the  movement  to  which  his  labors 
(R)  113 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


gave  birth,  it  was  not  given  to  him  to  closely 
grapple  with  the  problem  of  Christian 
unity.  His  mission  lay  in  another  field, 
but  it  was  performing  an  important  prepar- 
atory work  in  its  promotion  of  vital  godli- 
ness. John  Wesley  was  less  a  theological 
genius  than  he  was  a  great  practical  or- 
ganizer and  Christian  statesman,  dealing 
with  practical  problems  of  administration 
and  the  utilization  of  religious  forces.  His 
deep  religious  -experience,  and  the  empha- 
sis he  gave  to  the  truth  that  Christianity 
must  bear  witness  to  itself  in  the  individual 
heart  and  life, bearing  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit, 
together  with  the  other  qualities  mentioned, 
made  him  a  mighty  factor  in  the  religious 
life  of  the  world,  since  his  time. 

We  need  not  enter  here  into  the  mooted 
question  of  the  origin  of  that  splendid  body 
of  Christian  people  known  as  Baptists, 
whose  American  origin,  at  least,  dates  back 
to  the  days  of  Roger  Williams.  We  have 
already  seen  that  back  in  the  days  of 
Luther,  and  no  doubt  long  before  his  day, 
there  were  those  who  stood  for  believers' 
baptism,  for  liberty  of  conscience,  and 
against  the  usurpations  of  authority  over 
individual  liberty  by  either  the  Church  or 
114 


THE  PROTESTANT  ERA 


State.  Xo  doubt  these  views  were  firmly 
held,  and  quietly  spread  among  the  people, 
though  they  had  little  opportunity  of  flour- 
ishing under  the  rule  of  the  State  Church 
in  the  Old  World,  when  dissenters  were 
regarded  as  traitors.  No  one  man  stands 
for  this  movement,  but  it  has  had  a  suc- 
cession of  great  leaders,  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  and  has  been  a  mighty  bul- 
wark through  the  centuries  for  religious 
liberty,  for  a  regenerated  church  member- 
ship, for  believers'  baptism,  and  for  con- 
gregational autonomy. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  deal  with  the  sub- 
divisions, which  unfortunately  have  broken 
up  these  several  Protestant  bodies  into  sep- 
arate parties  and  denominations,  between 
which  there  has  existed  often  a  more  bit- 
ter feeling  than  between  more  remotely  sep- 
arated bodies.  Enough  has  been  said  to 
show  that  the  era  of  Protestantism  has 
unfortunately  been  an  era  of  division  and 
subdivision.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind, 
however,  that  the  leading  Protestant  move- 
ments came  into  existence  as  protests 
against  the  tyranny  and  corruptions  of  an 
apostate  Church  and  are  the  results  of 
sincere  and  earnest  efforts  to  establish  a 
115 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 

purer  faith  and  doctrine,  and  to  correct  ex- 
isting abuses.  This  fact  is  sometimes  over- 
looked when  these  movements  for  religious 
reform  are  characterized  as  the  "daughters 
of  the  Mother  of  Harlots."  This  charac- 
terization of  the  great.  Protestant  bodies  of 
our  time  ignores  history  and  fact  in  the 
interest  of  partisan  zeal.  Men  and  women 
of  heroic  faith  and  courage  went  to  the 
stake,  to  the  guillotine  and  to  the  flames 
because  of  their  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ, 
and  their  zeal  in  behalf  of  religious  reform. 
Heroes  like  Wickliffe,  Huss,  Luther,  Mel- 
ancthon,  Zwingli,  Calvin.  Wesley  and  a 
great  host  whose  names  are  less  known  to 
fame,  but  whose  faith  and  devotion  to  God 
were  not  less  true,  have  lived,  and  wrought, 
and  suffered  persecution,  and  many  of 
them  death,  in  behalf  of  religious  freedom 
and  a  truer  faith,  and  we  to-day  have  en- 
tered into  the  inheritance  which  they  have 
left  us.  It  is  a  species  of  ingratitude,  of 
which  no  Christian  ought  to  be  guilty,  to 
disregard  the  labors  and  sacrifices  of  these 
heroes  of  faith  whose  names  are  recorded 
in  the  Book  of  Life.  It  is  to  be  false  to  his- 
tory and  to  fact  to  speak  of  these  great 
Protestant  movements,  born  out  of  the 
116 


THE   PROTESTANT  ERA 


travail  of  soul  of  mighty  men  of  God,  seek- 
ing to  purify  the  Church  in  doctrine  and 
life,  as  "daughters  of  the  Mother  of  Har- 
lots." 

Had  there  been  no  Luther  there  prob- 
ably would  have  been  no  Calvin,  and  had 
there  been  no  Luther  and  Calvin  there 
would  have  been  no  John  Knox  or  John 
Wesley.  And  had  it  not  been  for  this  illus- 
trious line  of  reformers,  consecrating  their 
genius,  their  talent,  their  lives,  to  the  cause 
of  religious  reformation,  there  had  been  no 
reformation  of  the  nineteenth  century,  led 
by  such  men  as  the  Campbells,  and  Stone, 
and  followed  by  a  long  and  saintly  line  of 
heroes  and  heroines  willing  to  sacrifice  all 
for  the  sake  of  Christ  and  his  truth.  ,We 
shall  never  recognize  our  own  religious 
movement  in  its  true  relation  to  others 
which  have  preceded  it  until  we  see  these 
others  in  their  true  historic  setting,  and  are 
able  to  recognize  our  infinite  indebtedness 
to  them  for  what  they  accomplished  in  be- 
half of  religious  freedom  and  truth.  It 
will  mark  a  distinct  gain  in  historical 
knowledge  and  in  Christian  spirit  and  hu- 
mility, when  we  shall  cease  to  speak  of  our 
fellow-laborers  in  behalf  of  Christian  re- 
117 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


form  as  mere  "sects"  with  all  the  oppro- 
brium attaching  to  the  New  Testament  use 
cf  the  term,  as  some  do,  while  we  claim 
for  ourselves  the  right  and  title  of 
Churches  of  Christ.  This  manifestation  of 
high  churchism  does  not  look  any  better 
when  it  crops  out  among  us  than  it  does 
when  it  is  set  forth  by  the  older  and  more 
aristocratic  bodies  which  claim  a  direct 
succession  from  the  apostles.  Such  exclu- 
siveness  is  not  only  contrary  to  the  free 
spirit  of  our  time,  but  it  is  out  of  harmony 
with  the  spirit  and  teaching  of  him  whose 
disciples  we  claim  to  be.  One  of  the  ob- 
jects of  this  series  of  studies  will  have  been 
accomplished  if  it  shall  help  us  all  to  a 
point  of  view  that  will  enable  us  to  see  our 
true  relation  to  other  religious  movements, 
and  to  have  in  consequence  a  better  appre- 
ciation of  the  great  work  to  which  God  has 
called  us. 

Not  one  of  these  movements,  however, 
as  we  have  seen,  confronted  the  problem 
of  a  divided  Church,  nor  did  one  of  them 
set  itself  the  task  of  seeking  a  basis  of 
unity  upon  which  all  could  stand  together 
in  a  common  fellowship,  even  as  our  Mas- 
ter prayed.  Each  of  them  saw  evils  to  be 
118 


THE  PROTESTANT  ERA 

remedied  and  errors  to  be  corrected,  and 
set  itself  to  the  work  of  reformation,  and 
each  of  them,  let  it  be  said  in  truth  and 
justice,  has  made  a  distinct  contribution 
to  the  return  of  the  Church  from  its  Romish 
captivity  to  its  original  purity  and  con- 
formity to  Scriptural  rule.  There  were 
other  problems  to  be  solved  before  that  of 
Christian  unity  could  be  taken  up, and  with 
these  the  Lutheran,  Calvinian  and  Wesleyan 
Reformations  concerned  themselves. 

POST-REFORMATION    ADVOCATES    OF  UNION. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that,  in  the  spirit 
of  controversy  and  contention  which  fol- 
lowed the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury  and  other  later  reformatory  move- 
ments, there  were  no  voices  lifted  in  behalf 
of  unity.  The  wonder  is  that,  Christian 
unity  being  so  imbedded  in  the  very  spirit 
and  aim  of  Christianity,  these  voices  were 
not  more  numerous  and  did  not  meet  with 
a  readier  response  from  the  Church.  Our 
space  will  permit  us  to  mention  only  a  few 
of  the  most  prominent  and  pronounced  ad- 
vocates of  union  in  post-reformation  times, 
and  for  most  of  the  facts  herein  stated  we 
1J9 


CHRISTIAX  UX10X 


are  indebted  to  a  lecture  by  the  Rev.  John 
F.  Hurst.  D.  D..  LL.  D..  Bishop  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  on  "The 
Irenic  Movements  Since  the  Reformation," 
which  forms  a  chapter  in  a  book  entitled 
"Church  Unity/'* 

Melanchthon.  who  was  the  one  irenic 
spirit  of  the  Reformation,  seems  to  have 
transmitted  some  of  his  spirit  as  well  as  his 
theology  to  George  Calixtus.  professor  in 
the  University  of  Halmstadt.  who  became 
the  earliest  apostle  of  Christian  union. 
Himself  a  Lutheran,  by  his  travels  and 
mingling  with  other  Protestants,  he  at- 
tained to  a  breadth  of  view  not  shared  by 
many  religious  teachers  of  his  time.  His 
aim  was  to  bring  about  union  between  the 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches.  He 
contended  that  the  points  on  which  they 
differed  were  insignificant  as  compared 
with  the  great  fundamentals  on  which  they 
were  agreed.  Of  course  he  was  denounced 
and  ridiculed  by  the  sectarians  of  his  time, 
some  of  whom  identified  him  with  the  num- 
ber of  the  beast  in  the  Apocalypse.  As  our 
historian  remarks,  "It  was  a  militant  asre. 


'Scribners  Sons,  New  York. 

120 


THE   PROTEST AN T  ERA 


and  the  peacemaker's  role  was  not  popular." 

The  theological  school  of  Frankfort-on- 
the-Oder,  was  a  center  of  a  movement  in 
behalf  of  peace  and  unity.  We  are  indebted 
to  this  Frankfort  group  of  peace  advo- 
cates for  giving  publicity  as  to  the  now 
familiar  statement  of  Rupertus  Meldenius : 
"In  necessary  things  unity,  in  things  in- 
different liberty,  in  all  charity."  Rich- 
ard Baxter,  himself  an  advocate  of  Chris- 
tian union  in  his  time,  had  also  quoted  this 
sentence  in  his  work  on  Christian  union. 
Bishop  Hurst  says  that  "John  Durie  was 
the  greatest  peacemaker  of  the  seventeenth 
century."  Durie  devoted  himself  with  sin- 
gleness of  aim  to  bringing  about  the  union 
of  Christians.  He  interceded  with  kings 
and  parliaments,  receiving  aid  from  them 
and  from  many  of  the  leading  spirits  of  his 
time,  in  his  work.  Some  of  the  principles 
which  he  advocated,  as  given  in  the  lecture 
referred  to,  are  as  follows: 

"(r)  A  full  body  of  practical  divinity, 
which,  instead  of  the  ordinary  philosophical 
jangling  school  divinity,  might  be  proposed  to 
all  those  who  seeke  the  truth  which  is  after 
tfodlincsse.  ( 

"(2)  To  abolish  the  names  of  parties,  as 
121 


CHRISTIAN 


UNION 


presbyterial,  prelatical,  congregational,  etc., 
and  to  be  called  Reformed  Christians  of  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  France,  Germany,  etc. 

"(3)  To  discountenance  controversial  writ- 
ings by  private  persons. 

"(4)  It  is  the  mind  of  Christ  that  his  serv- 
ants in  all  matters  merely  circumstantial!  by 
him  not  determined  should  be  left  free  to 
follow  their  own  light,  as  it  may  be  offered, 
or  arise  unto  them,  from  the  general  rules  of 
edification  and  not  constrained  by  an  implicit 
faith  to  follow  the  dictates  of  other  men." 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  striking 
similarity  of  some  of  these  statements  with 
the  principles  enunciated  in  "The  Declara- 
tion and  Address"  of  Thomas  Campbell, 
early  in  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was 
too  early,  however,  for  these  principles  to 
meet  with  any  general  acceptance,  and  this 
earnest  advocate  of  Christian  union  died 
in  1680  without  seeing  his  hopes  realized. 

Hugo  Grotius,  a  contemporary  of  Calix- 
tus,  was  also  an  advocate  of  union,  but  his 
aim  especially  was  to  reconcile  Protestants 
to  the  mother  Church,  and  he  probably 
would  have  sacrificed  truth  for  the  sake  of 
unity. 

John  Owen  who  has  been  called  "the 
122 


THE   PROTEST AXT  ERA 


greatest  of  the  Puritan  divines,  the  Nestor 
of  the  Congregationalists,"  gave  his  voice 
for  union  and  laid  down  a  liberal  platform. 
Among  some  of  the  noble  sentences  are  the 
following:  "Wherever  there  is  a  man,  or 
a  body  of  men,  who  are  united  to  him  by  a 
living  faith  and  are  keeping  his  command- 
ments, he  or  they  are  in  communion  with 
the  Church  of  God."  "He  belongs  to  the 
Church  catholic  who  is  united  to  Christ 
by  the  spirit,  and  none  other."  As  to  the 
method  of  union  he  stated  this  truth  which 
is.  perhaps,  more  obvious  now  after  the 
experience  of  centuries  than  when  he  ut- 
tered it:  "But  T  verily  believe  that  when 
God  shall  accomplish  it  (union),  it  will  be 
the  effect  of  lov*  and  not  the  cause  of  love." 

We  have  already  referred  to  Baxter  as 
an  advocate  of  Christian  union.  We  can 
not  refrain  from  quoting  here  his  noble  ap- 
peal to  the  Christians  of  his  day  in  behalf 
of  union : 

"Why,  sirs,  have  not  Independents,  Pres- 
byterians, Episcopal,  etc.,  one  God,  one  Christ, 
one  Spirit,  one  Creed,  one  Scripture,  one  hope 
of  everlasting  life?  Are  our  disagreements  so 
great  that  we  may  not  live  together  in  love, 
and  close  in  fraternal  union  and  unity?  Are 
123 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


we  not  of  one  religion?  Do  we  differ  in  fun- 
damentals or  substantial?  Will  our  con- 
science worry  us?  Will  not  posterity  curse  us 
if  by  our  divisions  we  betray  the  gospel  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemies?  And  if  by  our 
mutual  envyings  and  jealousies  and  perverse 
zeal  for  our  several  conceits,  we  should  keep 
open  the  breach  for  all  heresies  and  wicked- 
ness to  enter,  and  make  a  prey  for  our  own 
poor  people's  souls;  Brethren,  you  see  other 
bonds  are  loosed;  Satan  will  make  his  advan- 
tage of  these  daises  of  licentiousness.  Let  us 
straighten  the  bond  of  Christian  unity  and  love, 
and  help  each  other  against  the  powers  of  hell, 
and  join  our  forces  against  one  common 
enemy." 

In  1836  Abraham  Van  Dyke,  Esq.,  pub- 
lished a  book  entitled,  Christian  „Union  ;  or 
an  Argument  for  the  Abolition  of  Sects," 
which  provoked  opposition  from  leaders  in 
the  Episcopal  Church,  and  also  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  The  book  and  the  dis- 
cussion it  provoked  was  a  contribution  to 
the  cause  of  Christian  unity. 

We  need  only  refer  to  the  local  union 
movements  within  certain  denominational 
families  which  are  recent  enough  to  be  fa- 
miliar to  our  readers.  The  union  effected 
124 


THE  PROTESTANT  ERA 

in  Scotland  and  among-  the  Methodist 
Churches  of  Canada  and  Presbyterian 
Churches  of  this  country  and  other  move- 
ments of  the  same  character  which  are 
now  in  process  of  being  accomplished,  are 
sufficient  to  show  us  that  a  new  spirit  has 
entered  into  the  Church,  and  that  the  cen- 
tripetal forces  are  overcoming  the  centri- 
fugal. The  movement  of  Abner  Jones  in 
New  England  and  of  John  O'Kelly  in  the 
South,  about  the  beginning  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, seeking  to  promote  a  closer  union 
among  Christians,  together  with  the  move- 
ments of  Stone  and  the  Campbells  to  be 
hereafter  noticed  more  fully,  and  of  which 
Bishop  Hurst  does  not  seem  to  have  heard, 
were  but  parts  of  a  wide-spread  cosmic 
movement  toward  union  which  we  can  not 
doubt  is  the  product  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
within  the  hearts  of  His  people.  All  of 
these  movements  contributed  something  to 
the  end  they  sought  to  accomplish  and 
helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  fuller 
realization  of  the  ideal  which  they  had  be- 
fore them.  But  they  were  in  the  main  in- 
dividual movements,  and  partly  because  of 
the  times  in  which  these  men  lived,  and  the 
conditions  under  which  they  wrought,  and, 
US 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


partly  because  of  the  impracticable  char- 
acter of  their  respective  platforms  of  unity, 
they  affected  but  slightly  the  religious 
thought  and  life  of  their  day.  W e  are  now 
to  consider  a  movement  in  behalf  of  union 
whose  growth  has  been  one  of  the  most 
striking  phenomena  in  modern  religious  his- 
tory, and  whose  plea  for  unity  has  pro- 
foundly affected  the  thought  and  feeling 
of  the  present  time. 


126 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION. 


"And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth, 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me."    (John  12:32.) 

"For  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  which  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ." 
(I.  Cor.  3:11.) 

"I  therefore,  the  prisoner  in  the  Lord  be- 
seech you  to  walk  worthily  of  the  calling 
wherewith  ye  were  called,  with  all  lowliness 
and  meekness,  with  longsuffering,  forbearing 
one  another  in  love;  giving  diligence  to  keep 
the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 
There  is  one  body,  and  one  Spirit,  even  as 
also  ye  were  called  in  one  hope  of  your  call- 
ing; one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one 
God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  over  all,  and 
through  all,  and  in  all."    (Eph.  4:1-6.) 

"Till  we  all  attain  unto  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God, 
unto  a  fullgrown  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."    (Eph.  4:13.) 

"For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many 
members,  and  all  the  members  of  the  body, 
being  many,  are  one  body;  so  also  is  Christ. 
For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into 
one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether 
bond  or  free;  and  were  all  made  to  drink  of 
one  Spirit."    (I.  Cor.  12:12,  13.) 

128 


V. 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION. 

A  SEED-TRUTH  TAKING  ROOT. 

With  the  dawning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury there  began  to  appear  evidences  of  a 
reaction  against  the  spirit  of  division,  and 
of  the  incoming  of  a  period  of  reunion  in 
the  Protestant  era.  It  was  within  the  first 
decade  of  that  century  that,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  there  was 
a  distinct,  organized  movement,  having  for 
its  aim  the  unity  of  the  Church.  Prophetic 
voices  had,  indeed,  been  heard  here  and 
there,  for  centuries,  decrying  the  evils  of 
division,  and  sounding  some  true  note  of 
catholicity,  but  these  were  drowned  in  the 
discord  of  contending  factions.  Such  a 
voice  was  that  of  Rupertus  Meldenius, 
who,  during  the  fierce  dogmatic  contro- 
versies and  the  horrors  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  "whispered  to  future  generations  the 
watchword  of  Christian  peacemakers, 
which  was  unheard  in  a  century  of  intol- 
erance, forgotten  in  a  century  of  indiffer- 
ence, but  resounds  with  increased  force  in 
129 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


a  century  of  revival  and  reunion:  'In  es- 
sentials, unity  ;  in  non-essentials,  liberty  ;  in 
all  things,  charity.'  "*  The  tract  containing 
this  remarkable  statement  is  believed  to 
have  appeared  in  the  year  1627  or  1628. 
Fifty  years  later,  Richard  Baxter  quoted 
it  from  another  author  in  the  preface  to 
his  work  on  "The  True  and  Only  Way  of 
Concord  of  all  the  Christian  Churches." 

"Here,  then,  is  an  admirable  illustration 
of  the  indestructible  vitality  of  an  impor- 
tant truth,  which  not  only  persists  in  liv- 
ing through  centuries  of  opposition  and 
neglect,  but  which  manifests  increased  pow- 
er over  each  succeeding  generation.  How 
few  there  were  to  recognize  in  this  state- 
ment the  germ  of  a  great  religious  ref- 
ormation, when  it  was  first  formulated  and 
uttered  by  Meldenius !  In  Baxter's  day  it 
attracted  more  attention  as  offering  relief 
from  the  interminable  strifes  and  divisions 
with  which  all  pious,  truth-loving  souls 
were  weary.  But  it  was  not  until  more 
than  a  century  later  that  it  gained  practical 
recognition  in  an  organized  movement  hav- 
ing for  its  end  the  unity  and  peace  of  the 
church. 


•Philip  Schaff,  Ecclesiastical  History,  Vol.  vi.,  p.  650. 
130 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 


"Indeed,  it  is  quite  certain  that  neither 
Meldenius  nor  Baxter  perceived  all  that 
was  involved  in  this  memorable  motto. 
What  they  did  see,  evidently,  was  an  utter 
lack  of  discrimination,  in  the  popular  mind, 
between  the  things  which  are  vital  and 
those  which  are  incidental,  and  the  conse- 
quent effort  to  enforce  uniformity  at  the 
expense  of  unity.  As  a  remedy  for  this 
state  of  things  they  proposed  the  foregoing 
statement  which  had  in  it  the  seed  of  a 
reformation  yet  to  be.  But  the  seed  must 
wait  for  genial  soil  and  favorable  surround- 
ings. If  either  of  the  men  named,  or  any 
of  the  theologians  of  that  period  who  ac- 
cepted this  motto,  had  been  asked  to  state 
more  specifically  what  were  the  'things 
essential,'  and  what  the  'things  non-essen- 
tial,' their  answer,  doubtless,  would  have 
borne  the  marks  and  the  limitations  of  the 
religious  thought  of  their  times.  It  was 
for  another  age  to  develop,  more  clearly 
than  was  possible  at  that  time,  the  right 
application  of  this  principle  to  the  religious 
problems  upon  which  Christendom  had  di- 
vided into  hostile  camps  "* 


"Introduction  by  J.  H.  Garrison  to  "Orifiin  of  the 
Disciples  of  Christ,"  by  G.  W.  L,ongan,  p.  6. 

131 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


Early  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  cen- 
tury there  were  heard  at  different  places  in 
the  United  States,  voices  crying  in  the  wil- 
derness of  our  denominationalistn,  protest- 
ing against  the  evils  of  divisions,  and  call- 
ing upon  the  Church  to  close  up  its  divided 
ranks  in  harmony  with  the  prayer  of  our 
Lord.  One  of  these  was  Barton  W.  Stone, 
who.  in  a  great  revival  at  Cane  Ridge,  Ky., 
in  the  year  1803.  raised  the  cry  for  Chris- 
tian union  by  forsaking  all  creeds  and  party 
names,  discarding  all  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity, and  taking  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible 
alone,  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice. The  movement  spread  with  great 
rapidity  throughout  that  state,  and  in  some 
of  the  western  states.  Mr.  Stone  was  a 
man  of  commanding  ability,  of  profound 
piety,  and  of  deep  moral  earnestness.  Un- 
der the  influence  of  a  great  spiritual  re- 
vival in  which  all  hearts  flowed  together  it 
seemed  utterly  inconsistent  to  pertetuate 
party  names,  or  to  acknowledge  the  au- 
thority of  human  creeds,  and  these  parti- 
tion walls  went  down  with  a  crash  before 
the  invincible  earnestness  of  these  men  of 
God  who  had  been  awakened  to  a  new 
consciousness  of  unity  and  of  fellowship  in  , 
132 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 


Christ.  In  a  "Last  Will  and  Testament," 
which  Stone  and  his  colaborers  made  out 
and  formally  signed,  they  bequeathed  their 
party  names,  their  creeds,  and  their  eccle- 
siastical associations  to  those  who  valued 
such  trifles,  and,  disencumbered,  they  set 
out  in  quest  of  that  long  lost  unity  for  which 
many  earnest  souls  had  been  yearning. 

In  the  year  1809  there  was  issued  a 
"Declaration  and  Address"  by  Thomas 
and  Alexander  Campbell,  father  and  son, 
in  western  Pennsylvania,  whither  they  had 
but  recently  migrated  from  Xorth  Ireland, 
in  which  they  set  forth  the  evils  of  a  di- 
vided Church,  and  pointed  out  the  way  to 
union  through  a  return  to  the  simplicity 
and  catholicity  of  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity. Thomas  Campbell  was  a  member 
of  the  seceders'  branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  an  able  and  educated  minister  and 
a  deeply  religious  man.  His  son  had  been 
reared  in  the  same  Church,  but  developed 
an  independence  of  thought,  a  wide  knowl- 
edge of  and  reverence  for  the  Scriptures, 
which,  with  his  extraordinary  ability  as  a 
preacher  and  writer,  fitted  him  in  an  emi- 
nent degree  for  the  work  of  a  religious 
reformer.  Looking  upon  the  same  evils 
133 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


which  Meldenius,  Baxter,  and  others  had 
seen  and  deplored,  Thomas  Campbell  ut- 
tered a  not  less  remarkable  saying  in  the 
memorable  words  which  he  made  the  bat- 
tle cry  of  reform :  "Where  the  Scriptures 
speak  we  speak,  and  where  the  Scriptures 
are  silent  we  are  silent."  The  clear  im- 
port of  this  striking  motto  was,  What  is 
enjoined  upon  men  by  divine  authority  we 
shall  insist  upon  being  observed ;  and 
where  the  Word  of  God  has  left  men  free, 
we  shall  not  bind  them.  The  phrase, 
"things  essential,"  had  now  been  inter- 
preted to  mean  the  things  required  by  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  "things  non-essential" 
were  those  where  the  silence  of  the  Scrip- 
tures left  men  free  to  follow  their  best 
judgment.  In  both  these  mottoes  there  is  a 
clear  recognition  of  divine  authority  and  an 
equally  distinct  rejection  of  human  author- 
ity in  matters  of  religious  faith  and  prac- 
tice. In  each  of  them  there  is  a  solemn 
emphasis  of  loyalty  to  God,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  freedom  from  the  tyranny  of 
opinion,  on  the  other."* 

Like  the  movement  of  Stone,  that  of  the 

'Introduction,  to  "Origin  of  Disciples  of  Christ,"  by 
J.  H.  Garrison. 

134 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 

Campbells  discarded  the  authority  of  hu- 
man creeds,  abandoned  the  use  of  all  party 
or  denominational  names,  and  urged  a  re- 
turn to  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  apos- 
tolic Church,  as  approved  by  the  New  Tes- 
tament. It  went  further  than  the  move- 
ment of  Stone  in  the  re-discovery  of  what 
was  the  creed  of  the  apostolic  Church, 
namely,  the  Messiahship  and  divinity  of 
Jesus  of  Xazareth,  upon  which  Christ  de- 
clared he  would  build  his  Church.  To  be- 
lieve on  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  the 
world's  Redeemer,  and  to  obey  him  as  the 
supreme  authority  in  all  matters  religious 
— that,  it  asserted,  is  the  way  to  unity.  It 
is  not  strange  that  after  the  lapse  of  a  few 
years  these  two  movements — that  of  Stone 
and  the  Campbells — met  and  coalesced, 
forming  a  Christian  union  movement  that 
has  mightily  affected  the  religious  thought 
of  our  times. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  HARMONIZING  UNION 
AND  LIBERTY. 

What  was  the  distinctive  task  which  this 
Christian  movement  set  for  itself?    It  un- 
dertook the  solution  of  that  problem  of  all 
the  Christian  centuries,  namely:  the  liar- 
US 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


monization  of  Christian  liberty  and  Chris- 
tian union.  How  can  we  stand  fast  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us 
free,  while  standing  fast  also  in  the  unity 
wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  one?  Ro- 
man Catholicism  secured  union,  of  a  kind, 
but  it  sacrificed  liberty.  Protestantism  se- 
cured liberty,  but  at  the  sacrifice  of  union. 
Are  these  two  principles,  then,  essentially 
antagonistic,  the  one  to  the  other?  Are 
they  mutually  exclusive  terms,  so  that 
those  who  enjoy  one  must  do  so  at  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  other?  This  can  not  be,  for 
Christ  not  only  taught  both  union  and  lib- 
erty as  principles  of  his  kingdom,  but  he 
enjoined  them  upon  his  followers.  How  can 
they  be  reconciled? 

In  a  stormy  period  of  our  national  his- 
tory, when  the  different  sections  of  the 
American  Union  seemed  likely  to  fall  part 
on  the  subject  of  slavery,  there  were  some 
political  leaders  who  were  in  favor  of  sac- 
rificing the  Union  to  save  liberty,  and  there 
were  others  who  believed  in  perpetuating 
the  Union,  even  at  the  expense  of  liberty. 
In  that  critical,  period  of  our  national  life 
there  stood  up  in  the  United  States  Senate 
that  great  constitutional  statesman,  Daniel 
136 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUXION 


Webster,  who  propounded  a  nobler  motto : 
''Liberty  and  union,  now  and  forever,  one 
and  inseparable!"  That  was  the  slogan 
that  carried  us  through  the  struggles  of 
the  civil  war  and  brought  us  out  a  free 
and  united  nation.  Liberty  to  the  several 
states  and  individuals  within  the  well  de- 
fined limits  of  the  constitution ;  union 
through  unswerving  loyalty  to  one  flag 
and  one  constitution — that  was,  is  and 
forever  must  be,  the  basis  of  the  Amer- 
ican Union,  whose  starry  banner  is  the 
ensign  of  hope  to  all  the  struggling  na- 
tionalities of  earth. 

Liberty  in  Christ  and  union  through  loy- 
alty to  Christ — that  is  the  harmonization 
of  these  two  principles  of  the  Gospel.  Loy- 
alty to  all  that  Christ  has  clearly  command- 
ed— that  gives  us  unity.  Loyalty  to  Christ 
only  and  a  rejection  of  all  human  authority 
in  religion — that  gives  us  liberty.  So  far 
from  there  being  any  conflict  between  these 
two  principles,  each  is  essential  to  the  oth- 
er; for  just  as  there  can  be  no  Christian 
union  without  liberty,  there  can  not  be  real 
Christian  liberty,  in  its  widest  and  best 
meaning,  without  union.  The  vital  relation 
of  liberty  to  union  is  seen  in  the  fact  that 
li7 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


all  attempts  to  bind  men's  thought  and  con- 
science where  Christ  has  left  them  free 
have  resulted  in  division  and  strife,  and  that 
all  steps  in  the  direction  of  a  reunion  of 
Christendom  involve  the  concession  of  lib- 
erty in  matters  of  opinion,  and  the  rejection 
of  all  authority  that  interposes  between 
Christ  and  the  liberty  which  the  emanci- 
pated soul  finds  in  him.  But  why  should  we 
say  that  union  is  essential  to  liberty  in  its 
widest  and  truest  sense?  Because  Chris- 
tian union  means  the  breaking  down  of  all 
artificial  barriers  which  separate  Christians 
from  each  other,  and  the  removal  of  those 
prejudices  and  arbitrary  limitations  of  fel- 
lowship which  enslave  the  mind  and  hinder 
the  soul's  true  and  normal  development. 
May  we  not  say,  therefore,  in  religion  as 
in  patriotism  "Liberty  and  union,  now  and 
forever,  one  and  inseparable." 

Here,  at  last,  in  the  free  atmosphere  of 
America,  with  the  full  guarantee  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  there  was  born,  for 
the  first  time  in  history,  a  religious  move- 
ment which  faced  squarely  the  problem 
of  a  divided  Christendom,  and  set  for  itself 
the  task  of  promoting  the  union  of  Chris- 
tians in  harmony  with  the  prayer  of  our 
13S 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 


divine  Lord.  It  would  be  strange,  indeed, 
if,  coming-  long  after  the  previous  reforma- 
tory movements  which  we  have  mentioned, 
profiting  by  all  the  truth  which  they  had 
elicited  and  emphasized,  as  well  as  by  their 
mistakes  and  shortcomings  and  directing  its 
aim  specifically  to  healing  the  divisions  of 
the  church,  this  religious  movement  of  the 
nineteenth  century  had  not  made  some  im- 
portant contribution  to  the  problem  of  uni- 
fying the  church,  and  to  the  work  of  bring- 
ing it  more  into  harmony  with  the  divine 
pattern  shown  us  in  the  mount  of  divine 
revelation.  In  his  history  of  the  Protestant 
revolution.  Dr.  A.  H.  Xewman  says,  con- 
cerning the  work  of  the  Genevan  reformer : 
"Calvin,  beginning  his  work  at  Geneva 
(1536),  had  the  benefit  of  nearly  twenty 
years  of  Protestant  experience  and  prestige. 
Had  his  ability  been  no  greater  than  that  of 
Zwingli  and  Luther,  he  might  yet  have  been 
expected  to  improve  upon  their  reformatory 
efforts."*  How  much  more,  therefore, 
might  it  have  been  expected  that  a  religious 
movement,  starting  nearly  three  centuries 
after    that    of    Luther,    and    almost  a 

•(Manual  of  Church  Historv,  hv  A.  H.  Newman, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  p.  20.) 

139 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


century  after  the  Wesleyan  reformation  in 
England,  should  have  "improved  upon  pre- 
vious reformatory  efforts."  But  especially 
— and  this  is  more  directly  to  our  point — 
might  it  have  been  expected  that  such  a 
movement  having  for  its  specific  aim  the 
promotion  of  unity  among  Christians,  and 
seeking  to  find  the  basis  for  such  unity, 
would  have  made  a  distinct  advance  toward 
the  solution  of  this  vexed  problem.  That 
it  did  make  such  advance,  we  can  not  doubt 
will  be  the  verdict  of  that  future  history 
which  is  to  sum  up  the  movements  and  in- 
fluences which  have  brought  about  a  united 
church. 

FEATURES  OE  CATHOLICITY  IN  THE 
MOVEMENT. 

The  following  features  of  catholicity 
which  this  Reformation  emphasized,  and 
continues  to  emphasize,  must,  we  believe, 
enter  into  any  practicable  scheme  of  Chris- 
tian union: 

i.  The  rejection  of  all  human  creeds  or 
formulations  of  doctrine  as  binding  upon 
the  conscience,  or  as  bases  of  communion, 
or  Christian  fellowship,  and  the  acceptance 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone,  as  the 
140 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 


only  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

2.  The  distinction  between  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  the  latter  being  the  will 
of  Christ,  and  especially  applicable  to  the 
Christian  Church  and  to  Christian  life. 

3.  The  abandonment  of  all  doctrines  and 
practices  in  the  Church,  as  having  any  bind- 
ing force,  which  are  not  clearly  authorized 
in  the  New  Testament.  This  was  expressed 
in  the  motto,  "Where  the  Scriptures  speak, 
we  speak :  where  the  Scriptures  are  silent, 
we  are  silent." 

4.  The  disuse  of  all  party  names,  and  the 
use  of  such  names  alone  as  express  the  com- 
mon relationship  of  all  true  believers  to 
Christ. 

5.  The  return  to  the  ancient  and  apos- 
tolic creed  on  which  Christ  said  he  would 
build  his  church,  and  which  is  the  only  true 
object  of  saving  faith — the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  himself.  To  believe  on  him  with  the 
whole  heart  is  to  possess  the  true,  evangel- 
ical, saving  faith.  He,  himself,  in  other 
words,  and  not  a  set  of  doctrines  about  him, 
or  about  the  Church,  is  the  object  of  faith. 

6.  Obedience  to  Christ,  in  his  command- 
ments and  ordinances,  as  interpreted  by  the 
best  scholarship  of  the  ages,  is  the  condition 

141 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


of  admission  into  his  Church  and  of  con- 
tinued fellowship  with  the  whole  body  of 
believers. 

7.  Liberty  of  opinion  in  all  matters  in- 
different, or  non-essential,  or  which  are  not 
inconsistent  with  Christian  faith  or  con- 
duct. 

This,  it  will  be  seen,  \was  an  effort  to 
attain  to  catholicity  of  faith,  of  teaching, 
and  of  practice.  It  involved  the  surrender 
of  names,  doctrines  and  practices,  which 
had  been  very  dear  to  those  who  committed 
themselves  to  this  program  of  union,  and 
it  was  a  severe  test  of  their  sincerity  and 
and  earnest  desire  for  union.  It  wrought  a 
revolution  in  the  doctrinal  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices of  the  very  men  who  were  leaders  in 
the  movement.  But  they  were  "not  dis- 
obedient to  the  heavenly  vision."* 

"This  fact  is  frequently  overlooked  by  writers  on  this 
subject,  who  are  wholly  ignorant  of  the  history  of  the 
Reformation  of  which  we  are  speaking.  In  a  recent 
work  on  "The  Gospel  of  Love,"  the  author,  referring  to 
the  evils  of  divisions,  says:  "There  is  a  wide-spread 
cry  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom.  But  no  church 
seems  willing  to  make  any  real  concessions  of  its  own 
peculiar  tenets,  though  all  are  ready  to  welcome  all 
others  who  will  abandon  their  own  distinctive  opinions 
in  their  favor." — "Gospel  of  Love,"  p.  66.  The  original 
leaders  in  this  movement  were  Presbyterians  first,  later 
they  became  Baptists,  and  later  still,  put  aside  all  de- 
nominational titles  and  creeds  and  became  simply  Chris- 
tians or  Disciples  of  Christ  with  the  distinct  motive  of 
promoting  Christian  union.  All  religious  bodies  have 
contributed  their  quota  of  men  who  were  willing  to  sac- 
rifice denominationalism  on  the  altar  of  unity. 

142 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 


It  is  a  pertinent  question  to  raise  at  this 
point,  Are  the  features  above  mentioned 
truly  catholic  in  their  nature,  that  is,  such 
as  are  believed  everywhere  and  by  all  Chris- 
tians? At  first  thought,  it  might  seem  that 
some  of  them  are  not,  but  we  believe  a  fur- 
ther and  maturer  reflection  will  show  that 
they  express  what  all  Protestants,  at  least, 
either  explicitly  or  implicitly  admit  to  be 
true.  For  instance,  it  may  be  asked,  wheth- 
er this  rejection  of  all  human  creeds  as  bind- 
ing upon  the  conscience  is  not  contrary  to 
the  belief  and  practice  of  those  Protestant 
bodies  which  have  doctrinal  creeds  and  con- 
fessions other  than  the  Bible.  To  this  it 
may  be  replied  that  it  is  the  cardinal  doc- 
trine of  Protestantism,  expressed  in  the  very 
creeds  themselves,  that  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  constitute  the 
only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 
In  rejecting  the  binding  authority  of  human 
creeds,  therefore,  we  are  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  the  Protestant  principle  and  are 
only  carrying  it  out  to  its  legitimate  re- 
sults. 

No  religious  body  in  Christendom  would 
claim  for  a  moment  that  its  own  creed  of- 
fers an  adequate  basis  for  Christian  union. 
143 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


These  creeds  were  never  intended  for  any- 
thing more  than  the  basis  of  denominational 
union  and  fellowship.  The  only  creed 
which  all  Christians  believe,  and  on  which 
they  can  unite,  is  the  old  creed  confessed 
by  Simon  Peter  on  the  coast  of  Caesarea 
Philippi — "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living'God."  To  believe  on  him,  and 
to  wear  his  name — that  is  common  ground 
which  all  can  occupy  without  any  sacrifice 
of  truth  and  conscience.  Of  course,  obedi- 
ence to  Christ  in  his  commandments  and  or- 
dinances is  involved  in  our  acceptance  of 
him  as  Saviour  and  Lord.  Whatever  he 
commands,  the  faith  which  accepts  him  as 
Lord  will  obey.  In  all  else  there  must  be 
liberty  for  difference  of  opinion  without  in- 
terfering with  Christian  fellowship.  There 
can  never  be  any  Christian  union  without 
the  recognition  of  this  principle  of  indi- 
vidual liberty  in  all  matters  not  directly 
enjoined  upon  us  by  the  authority  of  Christ. 
The  meaning  of  what  he  has  enjoined  di- 
rectly, or  through  his  apostles,  is  to  be  in- 
terpreted by  the  consensus  of  scholarship  in 
the  church.  If  anything  be  of  doubtful 
meaning  according  to  the  world's  best 
scholarship,  this  should  be  made  a  matter  of 
144 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 


liberty  concerning  which  every  man  is  to 
be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  opinion.  This 
assumes  that  every  believer  in  Christ  desires 
to  do  what  Christ  has  commanded  him  to 
do.  Nothing  short  of  this  is  faith  in  its 
New  Testament  meaning. 

This,  it  would  seem,  is  Christianity  re- 
duced to  its  least  common  denominator.  In 
other  words,  it  is  the  "irreducible  mini- 
mum" without  which  you  can  not  have  a 
church,  or  Christianity  in  any  visible  or 
practicable  form.  On  this  foundation  of 
faith  in  Christ,  and  of  loyal  obedience  to 
him,  has  been  built  the  Church  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  on  that  foundation  it  rests  to- 
day. There  arc  a  thousand  things  which 
may  enter  into  the  enrichment  of  Christian 
life  when  we  have  once  built  upon  this 
foundation,  but  these  things  are  not  to  be 
added  to  the  foundation  and  made  a  part  of 
the  conditions  of  entrance  upon  the  Chris- 
tian life.  If  this  were  done,  the  basis  of 
fellowship  would  cease  to  be  catholic  and 
many  would  become  Christians  without  be- 
ing able  to  accept  this  basis  of  fellowship. 
This  has  been  the  source  of  our  divisions 
and  subdivisions  in  the  religious  world. 
We  have  not  sufficiently  distinguished  be- 

(10)  145' 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


tween  the  things  that  are  vital  and  essential, 
which  belong  to  the  faith,  and  the  things 
which  are  incidental  and  inferential,  which 
are  matters  of  subsequent  knowledge  and 
investigation. 

HAVE  THE  DISCIPLES  OE  CHRIST  BEEN  LOYAL, 
TO  THEIR  IDEAL? 

It  is  one  thing  to  have  a  great  ideal,  and 
quite  another  thing  to  be  always  loyal  to 
and  consistent  with  that  ideal.  If  this  be 
true  of  the  individual,  how  much  more  true 
is  it  of  a  religious  movement,  with  its  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  of  advocates 
and  adherents,  having  different  tempera- 
ments, varying  degrees  of  culture  and  wide- 
ly differing  religious  antecedents  and  en- 
vironment? It  must  be  confessed,  at  once, 
that  while  the  greatest  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment throughout  its  history  have  kept  stead- 
ily in  view  its  catholic  spirit  and  principles, 
and  in  their  teaching  and  practice  have  ad- 
hered to  the  same  with  as  great  fidelity  as  is 
given  to  mortals,  large  sections  of  the  broth- 
erhood have,  at  different  times,  and  in  dif- 
ferent places,  been  swayed  in  their  spirit 
and  teaching  by  ideals  and  motives  which, 
to  the  extent  they  have  prevailed,  have  been 
146 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNIOM 


subversive  of  the  chief  aim  of  the  move- 
ment. This  has  been  true  of  every  religious 
reformation  in  history,  and  the  Disciples  of 
Christ  had  no  right  to  expect  immunity 
from  such  divisive  tendencies.  We  would 
gladly  drop  the  curtain  over  these  pages  of 
history,  were  it  not  for  the  useful  les- 
sons they  may  teach  us  in  avoiding  similar 
errors  in  the  future. 

The  most  distinguishing  feature  of  the 
movement,  and  one  which  entitles  it  to  rank 
as  a  Christian  union  movement,  is  the  dis- 
tinction it  has  always  drawn  between  faith, 
which  is  personal  confidence  and  trust  in  a 
personal  Saviour,  and  matters  of  opinion 
or  inference,  as  we  have  already  pointed 
out.  But,  strange  to  say,  it  has  been  just  at 
this  point  where  there  have  been  most  fre- 
quent failures  to  live  up  to  the  high  ideal. 
Instances  of  this  failure  are  to  be  seen  in 
the  fierce  opposition  that  was  at  one  time 
waged  against  the  use  of  instrumental  mu- 
sic in  public  worship.  This  custom  was 
held  by  some  good  brethren  to  be  a  violation 
of  the  principle  that  "Where  the  Scriptures 
speak,  we  speak ;  and  where  the  Scriptures 
are  silent,  we  are  silent."  This  was  of 
course  to  confound  mere  matters  of  method, 
147 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


or  of  expediency,  with  matters  of  faith  and 
loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ.  To  conceive  of  the 
New  Testament  as  a  Christian  law  hook, 
entering  into  the  minutiae  of  worship  and 
of  service,  is  to  misconceive  the  very  spirit 
and  genius  of  Christianity,  and  to  ignore 
the  wide  gulf  which  separates  it  from  Ju- 
daism ;  and  yet  one  of  the  strong  points 
of  the  movement  has  been  to  emphasize  the 
dispensational  lines,  and  to  bring  every  item 
of  Christian  faith  and  practice  to  the  test  of 
the  Christian  dispensation !  It  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  how  people  sometimes  fail  to  follow 
out  their  own  premises  to  their  legitimate 
conclusions. 

The  same  erroneous  method  of  reasoning 
has  been  applied  to  the  Sunday-school,  to 
missionary  organizations,  to  certain  meth- 
ods of  observing  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society,  to  postures  in 
prayer,  to  church  architecture,  and  many 
other  incidental  things  relating  to  mere 
methods  of  work  and  of  worship.  In  some 
instances  local  churches  have  been  rent 
asunder  over  the  organ  question,  and  sister 
congregations  have  been  alienated  from 
each  other  because  of  the  different  ways  of 
doing  missionary  work.  It  is  easy  to  see, 
148 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUXION 


of  course,  how  utterly  inconsistent  with  any 
claim  of  catholicity  of  position  or  spirit,  for 
the  movement,  have  been  these  divisive 
ideas  and  practices.  And  yet  there  are  well- 
meaning  people  devoted  to  these  doctrines 
and  practices  with  a  zeal  that  is  in  inverse 
proportion  to  their  knowledge  of  church 
history  and  of  the  meaning  and  breadth  of 
the  religious  movement  with  which  they  are 
identified. 

But  there  are  other  ways  in  which  some 
have  been  disloyal  to  this  high  ideal.  This 
ideal  implies  that  Christianity  consists,  as 
it  does,  of  faith  in  and  devotion  to  Christ, 
and  is  pre-eminently  a  spiritual  religion ; 
that  it  is  a  life,  rather  than  a  system  of  doc- 
trine, although  it  involves  sound  doctrine. 
And  yet  it  has  often  happened  that  in  their 
preaching  and  teaching  the  chief  emphasis 
has  been  laid  by  these  men  on  things  that 
are  external,  rather  than  on  things  which 
are  internal  and  vital.  Obedience  to  an  ex- 
ternal command,  like  baptism  or  the  Lord's 
Supper,  has  sometimes  been  taken  more  as 
a  test  of  loyalty  to  Christ  than  general  con- 
formity to  his  teaching  as  relates  to  conduct 
and  character.  They  have  not  always  given 
first  place  to  things  of  first  importance, 
149 


CHRIST  I.  IX 


UNION 


and  godliness  and  prayer,  with  purity  of 
heart  and  life,  have  often  received  less  em- 
phasis than  doctrinal  accuracy  and  a  cor- 
rect pronunciation  of  the  shibboleths.  Some- 
times the  spirit  of  humility  and  of  teach- 
ableness is  not  exemplified  to  as  great  a 
degree  as  might  be  expected  of  those  who 
claim  to  be  simply  learners  of  Christ.  It 
must  be  admitted,  too,  that  sometimes  the 
zeal  of  party  success  has  apparently  been 
greater  than  the  desire  for  the  unity  of 
God's  people. 

These  departures,  here  and  there,  from 
the  divine  ideal  which  the  Disciples  set  out 
to  realize  are  the  natural  results  of  defective 
education  and  training,  of  imperfect  spirit- 
ual development,  and,  more  even,  of  divisive 
teaching  and  preaching  by  false  leaders, 
who  have  done  much  to  prevent  unity 
among  themselves,  and  hence  to  hamper  the 
work  of  commending  Christian  unity  to 
others.  But  it  has  never  been  otherwise  in 
history.  Every  great  cause  has  had  to  win 
its  way  to  success  and  final  victory  not  only 
through  the  opposition  of  its  enemies,  but 
over  the  mistakes  of  its  friends.  Perhaps 
this  opposition  and  these  mistakes  of  short- 
sighted friends,  may  be  the  very  means  of 
150 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REV XI OS 


developing  more  clearly  the  strength  of  the 
righteous  cause.  But  whatever  the  causes, 
and  whatever  the  sad  results  of  such  fail- 
ures, it  is  comforting  and  reassuring  to 
know  that  these  faults  are  seen  and  recog- 
nized more  clearly  to-day  than  ever  before, 
and  that  the  great  body  of  both  ministers 
and  members  are  moving  in  the  direction  of 
greater  loyalty  to  their  divine  ideal,  and  are 
giving  a  more  practical  illustration  of  what 
is  involved  in  their  plea  for  Christian  union. 

The  fact  that  the  spirit  and  most  char- 
acteristic principles  of  the  movement  have 
been  misconceived  and  misrepresented  by 
many  of  its  professed  advocates  accounts, 
in  part  at  least,  for  its  misconception  and 
misrepresentation  by  those  without,  and 
for  much  of  the  prejudice  against  it.  The 
rest  must  be  set  down  to  the  weakness  of 
our  poor  human  nature  which  so  readily 
dissents  from  what  does  not  agree  with  its 
own  preconceived  ideas,  and  which  so 
easily  believes  evil  reports  concerning  it. 
Our  own  shortcomings,  however,  should 
teach  us  charity  in  judging  others  for 
faults  of  which  we  ourselves  may  not  be 
wholly  innocent.  Xo  doubt  much  mutual 
misunderstanding  of  each  others'  position 
151 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


and  aims  prevails  among  Christians,  the 
removal  of  which  should  be  the  aim  of  all 
lovers  of  peace,  good  will  and  unity  among 
Christians. 

CHANGE  OF  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  MOVE- 
MENT ON  THE  PART  OE  THE  RELIGIOUS 
WORLD. 

The  attitude  of  the  religious  world,  gen- 
erally, toward  this  movement  for  Christian 
union,  in  its  beginning  and  for  many  years 
afterwards,  was  that  of  hostility.  Protest- 
antism in  the  main  seemed  to  have  settled 
down  in  the  conviction  that  denomination- 
alism  was  the  normal  and  permanent  con- 
dition of  the  Church,  to  disturb  which  by 
any  plea  for  union  was  to  disturb  the  di- 
vine order  of  things.  The  plea  of  the 
Campbells  and  of  Stone  for  a  return  to  the 
unity  of  the  apostolic  church  by  a  return  to 
New  Testament  Christianity  in  its  simplicity 
and  catholicity,  seemed  to  the  religious  lead- 
ers of  that  age  as  an  idle  dream — a  Utopian 
scheme  which  was  neither  practicable  nor 
desirable.  The  leaders  of  this  movement 
were  denounced  as  schismatic  and  the  build- 
ers of  a  new  sect.   It  is  not  easy  to  see  why 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REUNION 

they  should  have  been  denounced  on  this 
account.  If  denominationalism  be,  indeed, 
the  divine  order  of  things,  why,  then,  should 
not  these  men  have  been  hailed  as  true  fel- 
low-workers in  bringing  to  birth  a  new  de- 
nomination? But,  strange  to  say,  this  in- 
consistency has  always  marked  the  course 
of  those  who  have  defended  the  present  de- 
nominational status  quo. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  not  strange  that  this 
movement,  in  its  origin,  met  with  bitter  op- 
position and  that  its  advocates  were  looked 
upon  as  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  Israel. 
To  that  age,  at  least,  it  seemed  a  most  revo- 
lutionary program  that  was  proposed  by 
the  Reformers.  It  involved  the  abandon- 
ment of  all  existing  human  creeds  as  bonds 
of  union  or  communion  ;  of  all  party  names 
as  promoting  and  perpetuating  divisions, 
and  the  acceptance,  instead  thereof,  of  the 
common  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  the  com- 
mon faith  and  the  common  religious  names, 
which  all  God's  people  would  be  willing  to 
accept.  At  the  present  time,  when  the 
power  of  creeds  has  waned,  when  denom- 
inational names  are  held  subordinate  to  the 
name  that  is  above  every  name,  and  when 
the  common  faith  in  Christ  is  exalted  far 
153 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


above  theological  systems  and  dogmas,  the 
position  assumed  by  these  Reformers  does 
not  seem  so  revolutionary  as  in  the  former 
days.  The  opposition  was  no  greater,  per- 
haps, than  has  been  experienced  by  every 
new  movement  in  the  world  that  has  inter- 
fered seriously  with  prevailing  customs, 
cpinions  and  traditions.  Moreover,  there 
was  one  good  service  which  this  opposition 
rendered  to  the  Cause  it  sought  to  destroy : 
it  served  to  keep  out  of  the  new  movement 
all  who  were  not  actuated  by  the  deepest 
and  most  conscientious  convictions  of  truth, 
and  made  its  advocates  realize  that  they 
were  suffering  for  truth's  sake,  and  thus  in- 
tensified the  bond  of  unity  and  of  brotherly 
love. 

It  is  very  obvious  that  a  great  change 
has  come  over  the  religious  world  in  its 
attitude,  both  toward  Christian  unity  and 
to  the  people  who  were  its  original  advo- 
cates. Everywhere,  except  perhaps  in  the 
most  benighted  regions,  the  ministers  and 
churches  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  are  wel- 
comed into  all  the  councils  and  co-operative 
movements  of  the  evangelical  churches, 
and  the  plea  for  Christian  union  is  heard  in 
nearly  all  the  pulpits  of  Christendom.  Far 
154 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


and  wide,  in  the  foreign  field  as  well  as  in 
the  home  field,  and  even  more  strongly  in 
foreign  lands  than  in  our  own  coun- 
try, the  tide  of  Christian  union  sentiment  is 
sweeping  onward,  swelling  in  volume  and 
momentum.  The  single  voice  of  Thomas 
Campbell,  crying  in  the  wilderness  of  sec- 
tarian factions  and  strifes,  "One  is  our 
Master,  and  all  we  be  brethren ;  let  us  love 
and  serve  one  another,  in  a  united  broth- 
erhood of  believers,"  has  swelled  into  a 
mighty  chorus  of  voices  heard  around  the 
world  pleading  for  the  union  of  a  divided 
church  in  order  to  the  conversion  of  the 
world ! 

Out  of  the  growing  spirit  of  unity  came, 
first  of  all,  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  which 
Alexander  Campbell  hailed  with  joy  as  one 
of  the  signs  of  promise  and  to  which  he 
pledged  his  co-operation  to  the  fullest  extent 
of  his  ability.  It  was  an  attempt  to  give 
some  sort  of  expression  to  the  fact  that 
these  great  Protestant  bodies  held  some 
vital  truths  in  common,  and  were  allies  in' a 
common  Cause  rather  than  mutual  foes. 
Not  knowing  how  else  to  manifest  their 
unity  at  that  time,  they  drew  up  a  crecdal 
statement  which  was  supposed  to  contain 
155 


CHKIS'l  IAN  UNION 


what  was  most  fundamental  in  the  common 
Christian  faith  as  the  basis  of  their  co-oper- 
ation. In  many  places,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, our  ministers  were  ruled  out  of  these 
local  alliances  because  they  were  not  con- 
sidered evangelical.*  It  will  be  remem- 
bered, too,  with  what  righteous  indignation 
we  protested  against  this  injustice  at  the 
hands  of  our  brethren  of  the  various  de- 
nominations, who  denied  to  us  a  place  in 
the  household  of  faith.  While  this  Alliance 
has  never  realized  the  expectation  which  its 
friends  entertained  for  it,  it  deserves  hon- 
orable recognition  as  the  first  attempt  to 
present  something  to  the  world  better  than 
warring  or  competing  denominations. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
has  also  served  the  purpose  of  furnishing 
a  broader  platform  than  that  afforded  by 
any  existing  denomination  for  interdenom- 
inational co-operation  in  efforts  to  save 


*It  is  easy  to  imagine  with  what  unanimous  voice  the 
Inter-Church  Conference  would  have  been  condemned 
for  its  narrowness,  by  all  who  oppose  federation,  as 
well  as  by  those  favoring  it,  had  the  Disciples  been  ex- 
cluded from  such  federation  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  not  evangelical!  But  why  so,  if  the  other  Protest- 
ant bodies  are  not  sufficiently  Christian  to  make  our  co- 
operation with  them  consistent  with  our  plea  for  Christian 
union?  To  such  complainers,  our  religious  neighbors 
might  apply  the  words  of  Jesus  to  the  Jews:  "We  piped 
unto  you  and  ye  did  not  dance;  we  wailed  and  ye  did  not 
weep."    Luke  7:32. 

156 


THE    PERIOD   Of  REUNION 


young  men.  Based  on  the  great  funda- 
mentals of  Christian  faith,  and  ignoring  de- 
nominational distinctions,  it  has  made  its 
beneficent  influence  felt  around  the  globe. 
The  great  interdenominational  movement 
in  Sunday-school  work  furnishes  another 
instance  of  the  desire  of  the  various  reli- 
gious bodies  to  work  together,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, for  common  ends,  as  regards  this 
great  interest  of  the  church.  Its  series  of 
uniform  lesssons  for  the  Sundayschools  of 
all  religious  bodies  has  been  a  mighty  force 
working  for  unity. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  all  these 
interdenominational  movements,  in  some  re- 
spects, is  the  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  which,  in  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  has  girdled  the  globe  and  has 
brought  together  the  young  people  of  all 
the  churches  in  union  services,  where  they 
are  learning  to  love  and  respect  each  other. 
Its  great  conventions  have  brought  togeth- 
er representative  men  out  of  various  re- 
ligious bodies  who  have  spoken  from  the 
same  platform,  and  given  testimony  to  their 
common  faith  and  life.  It  has  been  a 
mighty  influence,  under  God,  for  breaking 
down  barriers  of  prejudice  and  provincial- 
157 


CHRIST  I. -IX 


UXIOX 


ism  and  of  making  the  various  Protestant 
bodies  realize  how  great  are  the  matters 
they  hold  in  common  as  compared  with  the 
things  in  which  they  differ. 

Along  with  this  growing  spirit  of  unity 
there  has  come  a  kindlier  feeling  toward 
the  movement  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ. 
Prejudice  and  suspicion  have  given  way  in 
enlightened  communities  to  fraternity  and 
hearty  appreciation.  It  is  no  longer  a 
question  as  to  the  evangelical  character  of 
the  movement,  but  only  as  to  how  far  its 
plea  for  Christian  union  is  practicable. 

FORCES  MAKING  FOR  UNION. 

What  influences  have  been  at  work  to 
bring  about  this  remarkable  change  in  sen- 
timent in  the  religious  world  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Christian  union?  Effects  are  not 
produced  without  causes,  and  an  intelligent 
knowledge  of  these  causes  helps  us  to  un- 
derstand the  nature  of  the  effects  and  to 
forecast  with  considerable  certainty  other 
results  of  a  similar  character. 

r.  First  of  all,  we  can  not  doubt  that 
the  religious  movement  inaugurated  by  the 
Campbells  and  Barton  W.  Stone  in  the  first 
decade  of  the  last  century,  which  had  for 
158 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


its  specific  aim  the  promotion  of  Christian 
union,  has  been  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  producing  the  change  to  which 
we  have  referred.  It  would,  indeed,  be 
very  strange  if  this  were  not  the  case. 
Here  were  men  of  learning,  of  piety,  of  pre- 
eminent ability,  and  of  commanding  influ- 
ence, devoting  their  lives  to  this  holy  cause. 
They  have  had  a  line  of  noble  successors, 
who,  for  nearly  a  century,  in  pulpit  and 
periodical,  through  books  and  pamphlets, 
have  advocated,  without  wavering,  the  ne- 
cessity of  Christian  union  in  order  to  the 
conversion  of  the  world.  They  have  em- 
phasized the  evils  of  division  among  the 
people  of  God,  and  have  pointed  out  what 
seemed  to  them  a  practicable  basis  of  union 
by  a  return  to  the  original  foundation  on 
which  the  Church  was  built  and  by  loyal 
adherence  to  the  simple  teaching  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles  in  relation  to  church  mem- 
bership and  Christian  life.  Whatever  may 
be  thought  about  the  influence  which  this 
plea  has  exerted,  there  can  be  no  question 
in  any  candid,  thoughtful  mind,  that  the 
changes  which  have  come  about  in  religious 
sentiment  have  been  in  the  direction  of  this 
plea,  not  only  as  regards  the  evils  of  di- 
l-'9 


CHRISTLiX  UNION 


vision  and  the  necessity  of  union,  but  also 
in  respect  to  the  method  of  union,  which 
is  not  to  be  on  any  authorized  state- 
ment of  doctrine,  no  matter  how  irenic,  but 
on  Jesus  Christ  himself,  with  large  liberal- 
ity and  charity  for  all  differences  in  theo- 
logical opinions  and  doctrinal  inferences. 
The  exaltation  of  Christ  as  the  center  of 
unity  and  a  corresponding  decrease  of  au- 
thority in  doctrinal  creeds,  has  kept  pace 
steadily  with  the  growth  of  Christian  union 
sentiment,  and  is  one  of  the  most  marked 
characteristics  of  the  religious  thinking  of 
our  time.  It  is  a  matter  of  small  concern 
to  us,  as  reformers,  whether  proper  credit 
be  given  to  the  movement  we  represent  for 
its  influence  in  behalf  of  Christian  union  if 
only  the  principles  for  which  we  have  con- 
tended find  their  way  to  acceptance  and 
Christ's  prayer  for  the  unity  of  his  follow- 
ers be  fulfilled. 

2.  The  revival  of  Bible  study  in  connec- 
tin  with  the  subject  of  historical  criticism, 
and  the  better  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
which  has  resulted  from  this  agitation,  we 
can  not  doubt,  must  be  set  down  as  one  of 
the  contributing  causes  to  the  growing 
sentiment  in  favor  of  Christian  union.  In 
160 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


any  such  study  of  the  Bible,  in  the  light  of 
its  proper  divisions  and  of  its  dispensational 
lines,  and  with  a  clear  recognition  of  the 
progressive  character  of  revelation,  ad- 
vancing from  the  twilight  of  patriarchal 
times  to  the  glorious  sunlight  of  the  Chris- 
tian age,  Jesus  Christ  is  seen  in  his  true 
perspective,  and  his  divine  personality  looms 
up  far  above  patriarchs,  prophets  and  apos- 
tles, as.  the  supreme  and  sole  object  of 
Christian  faith,  and  the  only  center  around 
which  can  be  rallied  the  scattered  forces  of 
a  divided  church. 

3.  Another  mighty  influence  making  for 
union  has  been  that  spiritual  development 
within  the  church  which  inevitably  leads 
away  from  narrowness  and  bigotry  toward 
larger  and  more  catholic  views.  Our  di- 
visions, as  Paul  tells  us,  have  their  origin 
in  our  carnality,  and  just  as  the  Church 
grows  more  spiritual  will  it  become  more 
united.  Union  among  Christians  can  only 
follow  a  close  and  vital  union  with  Jesus 
Christ ;  that  is  one  reason  why  we  can  not 
force  Christian  union ;  it  must  grow.  We 
can  not  get  closer  to  Christ  without  getting 
closer  to  each  other.  The  unity  for  which 
Christ  prayed  is  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  and 
(11)  161 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


it  is  only  as  that  Spirit  dominates  the  lives 
of  Christians  that  they  can  be  one.  There- 
fore all  movements  looking  toward  deepen- 
ing the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church  are 
movements  in  behalf  of  Christian  union. 

4.  Through  a  better  knowledge  of  the 
condition  of  the  world  and  the  mission  of 
the  Church,  Christian  people  are  coming  to 
a  clearer  apprehension  of  the  great  tasks 
which  lie  before  the  Church  in  the  evangel- 
ization and  Christianization  of  the  world. 
Three-fifths  of  all  the  people  which  live 
upon  the  globe  are  yet  in  pagan  darkness. 
To  them  the  Gospel  must  be  sent.  And 
then  there  is  the  cleansing  of  our  own 
Christian  civilization  of  its  abominations 
and  the  lifting  up  of  a  higher  standard  of 
morals  in  our  social,  political  and  industrial 
life.  As  the  Church  has  gained  a  clearer 
vision  of  these  great  tasks  before  it,  it  has 
realized  more  and  more  the  necessity  of 
united  effort  and  the  sinfulness  of  wasting 
our  strength,  time  and  resources  in  building 
up  denominational  walls  and  quibbling  over 
our  theological  differences,  while  so  large  a 
part  of  the  world  is  yet  without  God  and 
without  hope,  knowing  nothing  of  Christ 
and  his  great  salvation. 

162 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


5.  The  world  is  becoming  more  and  more 
united.  Nations  are  forming  alliances  in 
the  interests  of  peace  and  civilization.  The 
whole  world  is  coming  to  feel  the  sense  of  a 
common  brotherhood.  The  poet's  dream  of 
the  "Parliament  of  Man"  approaches  real- 
ization. This  spirit  of  unity  is  affecting 
the  Church.  A  united  world  demands  a 
united  Church. 

6.  The  various  interdenominational  or- 
ganizations, to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made,  are  not  only  expressions  of  a 
union  sentiment  already  existing,  but  they 
are  mighty  factors  in  deepening  that  senti- 
ment and  in  removing  obstacles  out  of  the 
way  of  union.  There  is  no  greater  foe  to 
union  than  isolation,  and  there  is  no  more 
important  method  of  promoting  union  than 
the  free  intermingling  of  religious  people, 
and  especially  in  the  working  together  for 
common  ends  and  aims.  To  know  each 
other,  and  to  give  each  other  credit  for 
honesty  of  purpose,  sincerity  of  faith,  and 
the  reality  of  Christian  character,  is  to  go 
far  in  the  direction  of  realizing  the  oneness 
for  which  the  Master  prayed. 

These  are  some  of  the  various  factors 
which,    under   God,   have   wrought  this 
163 


CHRISTIAN  VHtON 


change  in  sentiment  in  the  Church  as  re- 
spects the  unity  of  Christians,  and  which 
are  still  working  for  the  more  perfect  re- 
alization of  that  divine  ideal. 

THE  LATEST  STEP  TOWARD  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the 
very  latest  of  these  efforts  to  give  visible 
and  tangible  expression  to  the  growing 
unity  of  the  Church,  for  the  double  purpose 
of  utilizing  this  unity  in  the  service  of  our 
common  Master,  and  of  promoting  a  still 
closer  unification  of  the  religious  forces  of 
Christendom. 

It  is  evident  from  what  has  already  been 
said  concerning  the  growing  consciousness 
of  unity  and  the  growing  sense  of  the  evils 
of  division,  in  our  Protestant  Christendom, 
that  some  further  step  must  be  taken.  The 
feeling  is  general  that,  while  all  the  pre- 
vious interdenominational  movements  had 
served,  and  are  serving,  an  excellent  pur- 
pose in  promoting  a  better  understanding 
among  Christians,  they  were  nevertheless 
inadequate  expressions  of  the  unity  of  the 
Church  itself,  and  that  something  better 
must  be  undertaken.  This  feeling  had  been 
164 


THE   PERIOD    OF  REUNION 

manifesting  itself  for  several  years  in  va- 
rious tentative  co-operative  movements,  at 
first  locally,  and  then  growing  wider  in 
their  scope  until  a  national  organization 
was  effected.  The  name  given  to  this  form 
of  co-operation  among  the  different  reli- 
gious bodies  was  termed  Federation,  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  former  and  less  orderly  and 
systematic  methods  of  co-operation.  The 
latter  term  had  long  been  in  use  to  indicate 
the  working  together  of  the  local  congrega- 
tions of  any  one  religious  bod}-.  Xow  that 
a  wider  movement  was  to  be  attempted,  in- 
volving the  co-operation,  under-  certain 
rules  and  conditions,  and  for  certain  pur- 
poses, of  the  different  religious  bodies,  it 
was  felt  that  a  new  term  would  be  necessary 
to  distinguish  this  new  and  wider  movement 
from  other  forms  of  co-operation,  and  so 
the  term  Federation  was  adopted.  Perhaps 
something  in  the  analogy  of  the  movement 
with  our  Federal  Union  had  something  to 
do  in  suggesting  the  term.  The  several 
states  are  free  and  independent  within  the 
limitations  of  their  constitutional  rights,  and 
yet  all  owe  allegiance  to  a  supreme  national 
constitution.  The  states  stand  on  the  basis 
of  equality  of  rights,  each  recognizing  the 
165 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 

other  as  a  state,  and  entitled  to  the  same 
rights  and  liberties  which  itself  enjoys.  It 
was  believed  that  Christian  union  sentiment 
had  reached  a  degree  of  development  which 
made  it  possible  for  such  a  union  to  be 
formed  among  the  evangelical  Protestant 
bodies.  This  very  fact  has  been  made  an 
objection  to  federation  by  some,  on  the 
ground  that  it  involves  an  indorsement  of 
the  errors,  in  faith  and  practice,  of  the  re- 
ligious bodies  entering  into  the  federation 
movement.  But  let  it  be  noticed  that  in  the 
Federal  Union  the  states  are  not  equal  in 
wealth,  in  general  intelligence,  in  their 
laws,  in  the  enforcement  of  these  laws,  in 
their  political  sentiments,  in  population,  and 
in  their  influence  upon  the  national  life. 
They  stand  on  the  plane  of  equality,  how- 
ever, as  to  their  rights  and  privileges  as 
free,  autonomous  states.  Xo  more  does  fed- 
eration imply  that  the  various  co-operating 
bodies  are  equal  in  their  intelligent  under- 
standing of  the  Scriptures,  in  their  con- 
formity to  the  New  Testament  ideal  of  the 
Church,  or  in  their  spiritual  development. 
They  may,  and  do,  vary  greatly  in  these 
respects ;  but  since  they  are  one  in  holding 
to  Christ  as  their  living  Head,  and  in  their 
166 


THE    PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


earnest  desire  to  do  his  will  and  promote 
his  glory  in  the  salvation  of  men,  they  can 
agree  to  recognize  each  other  as  Christians 
— not  as  perfect  Christians ;  as  Christian 
bodies,  not  as  perfect  Scriptural  bodies,  hav- 
ing equal  rights  under  the  law  of  God,  to 
be  true  to  their  convictions  in  the  worship 
of  God  and  in  efforts  to  advance  his  king- 
dom. 

In  some  of  these  tentative  federation 
movements  in  the  different  states  and  cities 
some  rules  were  adopted  which  were  found 
to  be  impracticable,  and  some  mistakes  have 
been  made,  as  will  always  be  the  case 
among  fallible  men,  even  whey  they  are 
seeking  to  carry  out  what  they  believe  to 
be  the  will  of  God.  These  fragmentary 
movements,  while  of  value  in  preparing  the 
way  for  something  better,  were  not  satis- 
factory. It  was  believed  that  something 
better  was  practicable,  and  the  great  Inter- 
Church  Conference  in  New  York  City  in 
November,  1905,  was  called,  in  this  con- 
viction. It  was  believed  that  the  time  had 
come  when  the  evangelical  Protestant 
bodies  of  Christendom  should,  through  rep- 
resentative men  chosen  for  this  purpose, 
deal  with  this  problem  of  a  closer  co-opera- 
167 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


tion.  In  such  a  gathering,  composed  of 
leading  men  out  of  the  various  religious 
bodies,  it  was  felt  there  would  be  such  a 
consensus  of  judgment  as  would  be  able  to 
form  a  basis  of  co-operation  that  would  be 
just  to  all,  that  would  give  perfect  freedom 
to  all,  and  would  yet  secure  such  a  measure 
of  co-operation  as  would  give  a  far  better 
expression  to  the  unity  which  exists  to-day 
than  had  yet  been  given  by  any  existing  or- 
ganization or  form  of  co-operation.  The 
delegates  in  this  conference  represented,  it 
is  estimated,  about  eighteen  million  Chris- 
tians, and  its  utterances  could  not  fail  to 
profoundly  influence  the  religious  thought 
and  life  of  the  times.  The  addresses  deliv- 
ered revealed  a  strength  of  sentiment  in  fa- 
vor of  Christian  union  and  against  the  con- 
tinuation of  our  extreme  denominational- 
ism  that  surpassed  anything  which  the  most 
ardent  friends  of  Christian  union  had  an- 
ticipated. The  great  theme  of  the  confer- 
ence was  the  fulfillment  of  Christ's  prayer 
for  the  unity  of  his  followers.  This  senti- 
ment made  itself  felt  in  every  speech,  in 
every  prayer  and  in  every  song. 

The  critical  point,  however,  as  all  felt 
from  the  beginning,  was  to  form  a  basis  of 
168 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 

co-operation  that  would  be  acceptable  to  all 
the  religious  bodies  represented.  It  was 
clear  that  some  things  would  have  to  be 
avoided  that  had  marred  the  usefulness  of 
other  plans  of  co-operation.  In  the  first 
place,  there  must  be  no  attempt  to  form  a 
doctrinal  creed  which  all  would  accept.  It 
was  evidewt  that  our  union  must  be  in  Christ 
alone,  and  that  no  other  creed  but  him 
should  be  suggested.  Then,  it  was  clearly 
self-evident  that  each  of  the  co-operating 
bodies  must  be  allowed  the  fullest  liberty 
to  carry  out  what  it  believes  to  be  its  provi- 
dential mission.  Federation,  in  other  words, 
must  not  be  interpreted  as  an  interference 
with  the  free  life  and  development  of  the 
co-operating  bodies.  Any  provision  of  that 
kind  would  have  been  rejected  instantly  as 
interfering  with  the  rights  of  conscience 
and  with  the  liberty  which  we  have  in 
Christ.  Again,  it  was  perfectly  manifest 
that  any  Council  formed  under  this  basis 
of  federation  must  have  no  authority,  other 
than  purely  advisory  influence,  over  the  co- 
operating churches,  and  that,  in  the  last 
analysis,  each  local  church,  or  each  religious 
body  through  its  representatives,  must  de- 
cide whether  any  given  measure  recom- 
169 


CHRISTIAX  L'XIOX 


mended  by  the  Council  should  be  carried 
out.  It  was  believed  that  if  these  points 
were  carefully  guarded  and  a  simple  plan 
devised  for  a  representative  gathering, 
quadrennially,  to  consider  the  interests  of 
the  Church  universal,  to  give  utterance  to 
its  convictions  upon  the  great  moral  reforms 
of  the  day,  and  to  provide  for  local  federa- 
tions to  carry  on  the  work  in  their  respec- 
tive communities,  it  would  accomplish  the 
end  which  all  had  in  view.  A  committee 
of  forty  representing  all  the  religious 
bodies  named  was  appointed  to  prepare  and 
submit  such  a  basis,  and  the  plan  they  sub- 
mitted was  adopted  with  the  most  remarka- 
ble unanimity  and  enthusiasm. 

Following  is  the  "Basis  of  Federation" 
adopted  by  the  Inter-Church  Conference : 

BASIS  OF  FEDERATION. 

PREAMBLE. 

Whereas,  In  the  providence  of  God,  the  time 
has  come  when  it  seems  fitting  more  fully  to 
manifest  the  essential  oneness  of  the  Christian 
churches  of  America  in  Jesus  Christ  as  their 
divine  Lord  and  Savior,  and  to  promote  the 
spirit  of  fellowship,  service  and  co-operation 
among  them,  the  delegates  to  the  Inter- 
Church  Conference  on  Federation  assembled  in 
170 


THE    PERIOD    OF   REV  XI  OX 


New  York  City,  do  hereby  recommend  the  fol- 
lowing Plan  of  Federation  to  the  Christian 
bodies  represented  in  this  Conference  for  their 
approval: 

PLAN  OF  FEDERATION. 

1.  For  the  prosecution  of  work  that  can  be 
better  done  in  union  than  in  separation  a 
Council  is  hereby  established  whose  name  shall 
be  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  of  America. 

2.  The  following  Christian  bodies  shall  be 
entitled  to  representation  in  this  Federal 
Council  on  their  approval  of  the  purpose  and 
plan  of  the  organization: 

THere  follow  the  names  of  thirty  Protes- 
tant bodies  represented  in  the  Conference.] 

3.  The  object  of  this  Federal  Council 
shall  be — 

(1)  To  express  the  fellowship  and  catholic 
unity  of  the  Christian  Church. 

(2)  To  bring  the  Christian  bodies  of 
America  into  united  service  for  Christ  and  the 
world. 

(3)  To  encourage  devotional  fellowship 
and  mutual  counsel  concerning  the  spiritual 
life  and  religious  activities  of  the  churches. 

(4)  To  secure  a  larger  combined  influence 
for  the  churches  of  Christ  in  .ill  matters 
affecting  the  moral  and  social  condition  of  the 
people,  so  as  to  promote  the  application  of 
the  law  of  Christ  in  every  relation  of  human 
life. 

171 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


(5)  To  assist  in  the  organization  of  local 
branches  of  the  Federal  Council  to  promote 
its  aims  in  their  communities. 

4.  This  Federal  Council  shall  have  no 
authority  over  the  constituent  bodies  adher- 
ing to  it;  but  its  province  shall  be  limited  to 
the  expression  of  its  counsel  and  the  recom- 
mending of  a  course  of  action  in  matters  of 
common  interest  to  the  churches,  local  coun- 
cils and  individual  Christians. 

It  has  no  authority  to  draw  up  a  common 
creed,  or  form  of  government,  or  of  worship, 
or  in  any  way  to  limit  the  full  autonomy  of  the 
Christian  bodies  adhering  to  it. 

5.  Members  of  this  Federal  Council  shall 
be  appointed  as  follows: 

Each  of  the  Christian  bodies  adhering 
to  this  Federal  Council  shall  be  entitled  to 
four  members,  and  shall  be  further  entitled 
to  one  member  for  every  50,000  of  its  com- 
municants or  major  fraction  thereof.  The 
question  of  representation  of  local  councils 
shall  be  referred  to  the  several  constituent 
bodies,  and  to  the  first  meeting  of  the  Federal 
Council. 

6.  Any  action  to  be  taken  by  this  Federal 
Council  shall  be  by  the  general  vote  of  its 
members.  But  in  case  one-third  of  the 
members  present  and  voting  request  it,  the 
vote  shall  be  by  the  bodies  represented,  the 
members  of  each  body  voting  separately;  and 
action  shall  require  the  vote,  not  only  of  a 

172 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


majority  of  the  members  voting,  but  also  of 
the  bodies  represented. 

7.  Other  Christian  bodies  may  be  admitted 
into  membership  of  this  Federal  Council  on 
their  request  if  approved  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  members  voting  at  a  session  of 
this  council,  and  of  two-thirds  of  the  bodies 
represented,  the  representatives  of  each  body 
voting  separately. 

8.  The  Federal  Council  shall  meet  in  Decem- 
ber, 1908,  and  thereafter  once  in  every  four 
years. 

9.  The  officers  of  this  Federal  Council  shall 
be  a  president,  one  vice-president  from  each 
of  its  constituent  bodies,  a  corresponding 
secretary,  a  recording  secretary,  a  treasurer, 
and  an  executive  committee,  who  shall  per- 
form the  duties  usually  assigned  to  such 
officers. 

The  corresponding  secretary  shall  aid  in 
organizing  and  assisting  local  councils,  and 
shall  represent  the  Federal  Council  in  its 
work,  under  the  direction  of  the  executive 
committee. 

The  executive  committee  shall  consist  of 
seven  ministers  and  seven  laymen,  together 
with  the  president,  all  ex-presidents,  the  corre- 
sponding secretary,  the  recording  secretary 
and  the  treasurer.  The  executive  committee 
shall  have  authority  to  attend  to  all  business 
of  the  Federal  Council  in  the  intervals  of  its 
meetings  and  to  fill  any  vacancies. 

All  officers  shall  be  chosen  at  the  quad- 
173 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


rennial  meetings  of  the  council,  and  shall  hold 
their  office  until  their  successors  take  office. 

The  president,  vice-presidents,  the  corre- 
sponding secretary,  the  recording  secretary 
and  the  treasurer  shall  be  elected  by  the, 
Federal  Council  on  nomination  by  the  execu- 
tive committee. 

The  executive  committee  shall  be  elected  by 
ballot  after  nomination  by  a  nominating  com- 
mittee. 

10.  This  plan  of  federation  may  be  altered 
or  amended  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  mem- 
bers, followed  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  several  constituent  bodies, 
each  body  voting  separately. 

11.  The  expenses  of  the  Federal  Council 
shall  be  provided  for  by  the  several  constituent 
bodies. 

This  plan  of  federation  shall  become  opera- 
tive when  it  shall  have  been  approved  by  two- 
thirds  of  the  above  bodies  to  which  it  shall  be 
presented. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  delegation  to 
this  conference  to  present  this  plan  of  federa- 
tion to  its  national  body,  and  ask  its  consid- 
eration and  proper  action. 

In  case  this  plan  of  federation  is  approved 
by  two-thirds  of  the  proposed  constituent 
bodies  the  executive  committee  of  the  Na- 
tional Federation  of  Churches  and  Christian 
Workers,  which  has  called  this  conference, 
is  requested  to  call  the  Federal  Council  to 
meet  at  a  fitting  place  in  December,  1908. 
174 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


FEDERATION  THE  NEXT  LOGICAL  STEP. 

It  is  very  instructive  to  study  the  evolu- 
tion of  Christian  union  sentiment.  There 
was  a  time  when  the  different  religious 
bodies  seemed  to  think  they  were  doing 
God  service  in  waging  warfare  against  each 
other,  and  in  strengthening  their  own  de- 
nominational position  at  the  expense  of  an- 
other. In  this  state  of  mutual  warfare  no 
respect  was  paid  to  each  other  in  planning 
for  the  extension  of  God's  kingdom  on 
earth.  It  was  a  step  forward  when  religi- 
ous comity  took  the  place  of  open  war- 
fare, and  when  the  different  churches  were 
able  to  say  to  each  other,  as  Abraham  said 
to  Lot,  "Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee, 
between  me  and  thee.  *  *  *  If  thou  wilt 
take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the 
right;  or  if  you  will  take  the  right  hand, 
then  I  will  go  to  the  left."  That  is,  they 
agreed  to  let  each  other  alone,  and  not 
trespass  upon  each  other's  territory. 

This  soon  gave  place  to  something  still 
better.  The  religious  bodies  holding  Christ 
as  their  common  Head,  came  to  feel  that 
they  did  not  wish  to  let  each  other  alone; 
that  they  had  too  much  in  common,  and 
175 


CHRISTIAN  UXIOX 


that  they  should  meet  together  on  stated 
occasions  and  manifest  their  hrotherliness 
of  spirit.  This  was  the  period  of  platform 
unity.  Representatives  of  different  eccle- 
siastical bodies  met  and  exchanged  cour- 
tesies, and  compliments,  and  showed  that 
they  really  did  recognize  each  other  as 
brethren.  Occasionally  they  held  union 
meetings,  or  united  in  some  crusade  against 
certain  public  evils  that  were  a  menace  to 
the  moral  welfare  of  the  community :  but 
these  efforts  were  irregular  and  spasmodic, 
and  passed  away  with  the  exigency  which 
called  them  forth.  But  all  this  was  a 
preparatory  step  to  something  better.  It 
was  during  this  period  that  most  all  our 
great  interdenominational  movements  had 
their  origin,  furnishing  an  opportunity  for 
brotherly  intermingling  and  co-operation. 
But  the  time  came — inevitably  came— when 
leaders  in  the  various  religious  bodies  be- 
gan to  feel  that  something  better  than  oc- 
casional platform  meetings,  and  occasional 
union  meetings,  was  required  to  meet  the 
demand  of  our  Lord's  prayer  for  the 
unity  of  his  followers,  and  what  they 
finally  decided  upon  as  an  advance  step 
toward  this  consummation  was  Church 
176 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


Federation — an  agreement  to  co-operate 
together  on  the  simple  basis  of  the  accept- 
ance of  Christ  as  Saviour  and  Lord,  in  all 
things  which  represented  common  aims  and 
which  could  be  better  accomplished  by  unit- 
ed than  by  separate  action.  The  inevitable 
sequence  of  this  movement,  as  following 
those  which  had  gone  before,  and  its  essen- 
tial relation  to  the  realization  of  the  age- 
long desire  for  unity,  may  be  seen  in  the 
light  of  the  following  facts: 

/.  There  has  been  marked  progress 
within  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  in  the 
SPIRIT  of  unity  among  the  churches  of 
this  country.  Not  only  so.  but  there  is  a 
much  greater  unity  of  BELIEF  and  of 
TEACHING  and  PRACTICE,  than  there 
was  a  half  or  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 
We  have  passed  out  of  'what  has  been  called 
the  centrifugal  period  of  the  Church,  when 
religious  bodies  were  Hying  off  from  the 
center,  into  the  centripetal  period,  in  which 
the  religious  bodies  me  being  drazvn  closer 
toward  the  center,  which  is  Chirst. 

2.  Nevertheless,  each  of  these  religious 
bodies    believes,    conscientiously,    that  it 
stands  for  certain  vital,  or  at  least  impor- 
tant, truths,  and  that  it  is  its  duty  to  give 
(12)  177 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


continuous  emphasis  to  these  truths.  Let 
us  take  our  own  religious  movement  for 
example:  We  believe  that  zee  stand  for  cer- 
tain great  and  important  truths  which 
need  emphasis  in  our  day,  and  we  would 
not  agree  to  any  union  that  involved  the 
surrender  of  any  of  these  vital  truths  or 
principles.  We  must  allow  that  other  re- 
ligious bodies  are  just  as  conscientious  as 
zee  are,  and  hold  with  as  great  tenacity  to 
certain  principles  in  policy  or  doctrine, 
which  they  regard  as  important,  if  not  vital, 
to  the  welfare  of  the  church. 

5.  We  have  never  advocated  a  union  that 
involved  the  sacrifice  of  any  man's  con- 
science, for  no  sort  of  union  would  be  worth 
anything  to  a  man  if  he  has  purchased  it 
at  the  expense  of  his  conscience.  Con- 
science is  not  something  that  can  be  modi- 
fied on  demand ;  it  requires  a  process  of  ed- 
ucation and  enlightenment  in  which  truth 
is  seen  in  different  proportion  and  in  proper 
relation  to  effect  a  change  in  conscience. 

4.  Th  is  means  that  zee  can  not  IMMEDI- 
ATELY have  Christian  union  on  what  WB 
believe  to  be  the  New  Testament  basis,  since 
some  of  the  beliefs  and  practices  conscien- 
tiously adhered  to  by  many  we  believe  to  be 
178 


THE   PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


at  variance  with  New  Testament  teaching 
and  practice.  We  can  not  ask  others  to  do 
what  zee  ourselves  refuse  to  do,  namely, 
surrender  honest  convictions  of  truth  for 
the  sake  of  unity.  When  we  have  made 
due  allowance  for  liberty  in  matters  of  doc- 
trine and  polity  which  do  not  affect  Chris- 
tian faith  or  character  there  still  remain 
obstacles  to  an  immediate  union  of  the  ideal 
type  taught  in  the  New  Testament. 

5.  Meanwhile,  in  spite  of  their  imper- 
fections, God  has  blessed,  and  is  blessing, 
these  various  religious  bodies  just  in  pro- 
portion as  they  have  been,  and  arc.  faith- 
ful to  him,  and  give  themselves  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  his  kingdom.  To  deny  that 
these  churches  have  the  marks  of  divine 
favor  upon  them,  would  be  to  shut  our  eyes 
to  the  most  patent  facts.  The  truth  forces 
itself  upon  us  that  God  has  no  perfect  in- 
strumentalities in  this  world,  and  that  he 
is  using  the  best  instruments  he  has  for 
the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes. 

6.  Since  the  period  of  most  rapid  growth 
in  Christian  union  sentiment  has  been  the 
period  of  the  greatest  interdenominational 
co-operation,  it  is  clear  that  it  is  not  by  the 
policy  of  ISOLATION,  but  by  that  of 

179 


CHRISTIAN  UXIOX 


CLOSER  CO-OPERATIOX,  that  this 
process  of  unification  is  to  be  carried  on 
toward  perfection.  Xot  to  see  this  is  to  be 
blind  to  the  present-day  movements  of  God 
among  his  people. 

TO  WHAT  CONCLUSION? 

To  what  conclusion  do  the  foregoing- 
facts  point  as  to  the  duty  of  the  various 
religious  bodies  toward  the  federation 
movement?  If  the  ideal  toward  which  the 
Church  must  move  is  the  unity  among 
Christ's  followers  for  which  he  prayed — a 
unity  that  by  its  self-evidencing  power  and 
by  the  co-operative  effectiveness  of  its  sev- 
eral parts,  will  convince  the  world  of 
Christ's  divine  nature  and  mission ;  and  if 
that  unity,  which  is  yet  in  the  future,  can 
only  be  realized  as  the  various  members 
of  the  one  body  come  into  vital  touch  with 
its  living  Head ;  if  conscience  is  not  to  be 
sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  a  forced  unity, 
and  conscience  can  best  be  enlightened, 
both  as  to  the  need  and  method  of  union, 
by  free  intermingling  and  co-operation  of 
believers,  as  shown  by  the  experience  of 
the  past ;  if  the  ideal  unity  is  not  to  be 
180 


THE    PERIOD    OP  REUNION 


reached  by  "a  single  bound,"  any  more 
than  heaven  is  so  reached,  but  its  glorious 
heights  attained  "round  by  round,"  the  con- 
clusion is  as  inevitable  as  the  logic  of  facts 
can  make  it,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  vari- 
ous groups  of  Christians  designated  as 
churches,  or  denominations,  to  co-operate 
as  far  as  they  can  see  their  way  clear  to  do 
so,  for  the  manifestation  of  the  common 
life  and  the  common  faith  which  they  have, 
and  for  the  better  accomplishment  of  those 
ends  and  aims  which  require  united  action. 

We  have  said  that  this  is  the  plain  duty 
of  Christian  bodies,  but  we  fed  justified  in 
putting  it  even  stronger  than  that :  it  is  the 
inevitable  trend  of  the  Christian  thought 
t  and  life  of  our  times.  By  this  we  mean 
that  every  living  thing  unfolds  and  develops 
acording  to  the  law  of  its  life.  The  acorn 
is  predestined  by  the  law  of  life  embodied 
in  its  germ  to  develop  into  an  oak.  It  can 
not  grow  any  other  way.  A  grain  of  wheat 
is  predestined  by  the  law  of  its  life  to  a 
certain  process  of  development  culminating 
in  a  stalk  of  ripened  wheat.  It  can  not 
grow  or  develop  otherwise.  The  Church, 
in  so  far  as  it  is  an  embodiment  of  divine 
181 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


life,  must  develop  according  to  the  law  of 
that  life — "the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in 
Christ  Jesus."  The  vital  germ  of  this  law 
of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  is  love, 
and  love  is  essentially  unifying.  There  is, 
therefore,  absolutely  no  other  line  of  de- 
velopment for  the  Church  of  the  future,  if 
it  be  true  to  Christ,  except  in  the  direction 
of  unity.  This  is  why  any  prophet  of  God  to- 
day may  know  that  the  present  movement 
toward  unity  is  to  increase  until  it  reaches 
the  sublime  culmination  of  a  united  church. 

What  we  have  said  concerning  the  in- 
evitableness  of  this  trend  toward  unity  ap- 
plies only  to  those  bodies  which  actually 
hold  to  Christ  as  their  supreme  authority, 
sharing  in  his  life  and  moving  in  obedience, 
more  or  less  perfect,  to  his  divine  will.  It 
follows,  of  course,  that  the  more  fully  any 
given  religious  body  is  under  the  control 
of  Christ's  will,  and  the  more  fully  its  mem- 
bers have  become  partakers  of  the  divine 
life  which  is  in  Christ,  the  more  swiftly 
will  such  a  body  move  toward  the  fulfill- 
ment of  Christ's  prayer  for  the  unity  of  his 
followers.  This  is  a  test  which  no  religious 
body  can  evade.  It  is  not  an  arbitrary 
one,  but  one  that  grows  out  of  the  very 
"l82 


THE   PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


nature  of  things.   No  surer  is  it  that  Christ 
is  the  source  of  our  life  and  of  our  unity, 
than  that  we  approach  toward  that  unity 
which  he  desired,  for  which  he  prayed,  and 
which  his  Spirit  inspires,  just  in  proportion 
as  we  are  brought  under  the  spell  of  his 
divine  personality,  and  are  obedient  to  the 
leadership  of  his  Spirit.    This  implies  what 
we  presume  no  one  will  deny,  that  no  reli- 
gious body  is  living  wholly  under  the  au- 
thority of  Christ,  and  is  in  perfect  conform- 
ity to  his  will,  thereby  perfectly  exemplify- 
ing the  unity  and  accomplishing  the  work 
which  he  desired.    The  assumption  of  per- 
fection on  the  part  of  any  religious  body 
would  be  the  surest  proof  of  its  estrange- 
ment from  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  of  its 
unpreparedness  for  unity  with  others  of  his 
followers.    Indeed,  there  is  no  need  of  any 
proclamation  on  that  point  whatever,  since 
there  is  an  old-fashioned  test  which  Christ 
gave  to  the  world  long  ago,  by  which  men 
and  movements  are  measured — "By  their 
fruits  shall  ye  know  them."    The  fruit  of 
unity,  therefore,  among  ourselves  and  with 
other  folllowers  of  Christ,  is  the  best  pos- 
sible proof  that  wc  are  united  with  him. 
What  is  the  meaning  of  these  facts  if  it 

183 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


be  not  that  God  is  calling  us  to  ultimate 
unity  through  the  method  of  co-operation 
in  all  things  wherein  we  are  agreed?  Can 
any  religious  body  justify  its  holding  aloof 
from  this  step  toward  unity  on  the  ground 
that  it  has  received  special  light  on  the 
subject  of  union  and  occupies  more  ad- 
vanced ground  than  others?  Does  not  that 
very  fact,  if  it  be  a  fact,  furnish  an  addi- 
tional reason  why  such  a  body  should  lend 
its  strength  to  the  weakness  of  the  others 
in  bringing  about  a  closer  unity?  If  such 
a  body  of  Christians,  because  of  its  special 
advocacy  of  Christian  union  and  its  his- 
toric devotion  to  that  cause,  has  gained 
some  coign  of  vantage,  does  it  not  owe  it 
to  the  religious  world,  and  to  Him  who  has 
called  it  with  this  holy  calling,  to  bring  this 
light  to  bear  in  the  most  effective  way  on 
other  religious  people  in  order  to  hasten  the 
end  which  we  all  desire?  Indeed,  does  not 
such  a  body  owe  it  to  itself,  unless  it  has 
attained  to  perfection,  both  in  knowledge 
and  practice,  in  faith  and  in  character,  to 
come  into  such  close  touch  with  other 
Christians  that  it  may  receive  from  them 
whatever  they  may  have  to  confer? 

To  refuse  assent  to,  and  co-operation 
184 


THE   PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


with,  this  movement  toward  unity  on  the 
plea  that  it  is  not  the  ideal  unity  of  the 
New  Testament,  would  be  to  ignore  the 
whole  law  of  progressive  development  in 
the  kingdom  of  God.  We  lay  this  down  as 
an  axiomatic  truth :  77  is  as  much  our  duty 
to  manifest  and  put  to  some  practical  use 
the  unity  which  already  exists,  as  it  is  to 
labor  and  pray  for  an  ideal  unity  that  is 
yet  far  in  the  future.  Indeed  the  way  to 
hasten  the  ideal  unity  is  to  put  to  practical 
use  the  unity  which  we  already  have.  "To 
him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  to  him 
that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  even 
that  which  he  hath,"  is  a  universal  law  in 
the  kingdom  of  grace. 

This  is  the  method  of  unity  prescribed 
by  Paul  for  the  Philippians:  "Let  us, 
therefore,  as  many  as  are  perfect,  [full 
grown]  be  thus  minded:  and  if  in  anything 
ye  are  otherwise  minded  this  also  shall  God 
reveal  unto  you:  only  whereunto  we  have 
attained,  by  that  same  rule  let  us  walk."* 
That  is,  as  far  as  you  do  see  alike  walk 
together,  and  in  so  doing  God  will  reveal 


•Phil.  3:15,  16. 


185 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


to  you  the  additional  truth  that  will  make 
your  unit\-  complete. 

We  are  bound,  therefore,  by  every  con- 
sideration of  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ,  and 
by  every  regard  for  our  future  growth  and 
development,  to  co-operate  to  the  fullest 
extent  possible, — which  would  be  in  dif- 
ferent degrees,  no  doubt,  in  different 
places — with  all  who  love  and  serve  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  the  advancement  of 
his  kingdom  among  men.  This  is  what 
the  federation  movement  means,  and  as 
such,  it  is  the  next  logical  step — the  next 
inevitable  step — toward  the  complete  unity 
of  Christians. 

EXTERNAL   MOTIVES  TO  UNION. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  inevitableness  of 
the  tendency  toward  unity  in  the  Church, 
by  reason  of  the  internal  law  of  its  life 
unfolding  without,  according  to  the  divine 
order  of  progressive  development.  It  re- 
mains to  be  said  that  this  tendency  of  the 
internal  law  of  life  is  mightily  reinforced 
by  external  conditions  in  the  world  to  which 
the  Church  is  called  to  minister.  The  needs 
of  humanity  make  a  powerful  appeal  to  this, 
186 


THE    PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


inward  law  of  life,  which  is  the  law  of 
love.  Love  is  always  stimulated  to  make 
its  greatest  sacrifices  and  put  forth  its  high- 
est efforts  to  relieve  from  suffering,  or  pro- 
tect from  peril,  the  object  of  its  affections. 
"God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believ- 
eth  in  him  might  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life."  "\\ "hen  will  it  be  written  that 
the  Church  "so  loved  the  world"  that  it 
gave  up  its  sectarian  spirit,  aims,  ambitions, 
names,  creeds,  its  half-hearted  consecra- 
tion, and  whatever  else  hinders  its  unity 
and  co-operation,  that  the  world  "might  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life"?  Some 
time  that  fact  must  be  written  if  the  world 
is  ever  to  be  redeemed  by  Christ.  The 
infinite  love  of  God,  which  found  expres- 
sion in  Christ,  must  also  find  expression  in 
his  Church,  which  is  to  be  the  medium  for 
conveying  that  love  to  a  perishing  world. 

fa  the  past,  it  must  be  confessed,  the 
Church  has  been  so  much  absorbed  in  de- 
fining and  defending  its  theological  posi- 
tion, so  occupied  with  questions  of  organi- 
zation and  government,  so  exhausted  by  its 
efforts  at  denominational  propaganda,  that 
it  has  not  caught  a  clear  vision  of  the 
187 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


world's  needs  and  of  its  own  obligation  to 
minister  to  these  needs. 

It  is  only  recently  that  it  seems  to  have 
become  conscious  of  the  stupendous  tasks 
which  Christ  has  laid  upon  it,  and  of  its 
need  of  unity  in  order  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  these  tasks.  What  the  Church  of 
to-day  needs,  more  than  anything  else,  per- 
haps, to  fill  it  with  the  spirit  of  consecra- 
tion, unification,  and  co-operation,  is  to 
catch  a  clear  and  distinct  vision  of  this 
world's  needs  as  seen  through  the  eyes  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Such  a  vision  would  hum- 
ble it,  put  it  upon  its  knees  in  prayer,  and 
cause  it  to  cry  to  God  for  a  fresh  anoint- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  fit  it  to  accom- 
plish these  great  tasks.  Let  us  look  for 
a  moment  at  some  of  these  needs  which  ap- 
peal to  the  Church  for  united  action. 

Three  men  out  of  every  five,  of  all  the 
millions  that  dwell  upon  the  globe,  abide 
even  yet  in  pagan  darkness.  So  far  as 
these  three-fifths  of  the  human  race  are 
concerned,  God's  love  manifested  in  the 
sending  of  his  Son,  and  Christ's  death  for 
the  sins  of  men,  in  manifestation  of  that 
same  love,  were  in  vain.  They  have  not 
yet  heard  the  good  news,  and  are  "with- 

188 


THE    PERIOD    OF  REUNION 

out  God  and  without  hope  in  the  world." 
Christ  has  called  out  his  Church  from  the 
world  to  carry  to  these  hopeless  millions  the 
good  news  of  salvation,  and  he  prayed  for 
its  unity  to  the  end  that  this  sublime  pur- 
pose might  be  accomplished.  Oh,  if  we  only 
had  ears  to  hear  the  plaintive  and  inarticu- 
late cry  that  comes  from  the  heart  of  the 
heathen  world — its  deep  moan  of  anguish 
because  its  knows  not  God  nor  the  mean- 
ing and  mystery  of  life !  If  we  only  had 
eyes  to  see  the  moral  desolation  that  pre- 
vails even  yet  in  so-called  Christian  lands, 
and  the  gigantic  evils  which  threaten  our 
civilization  and  all  that  is  dearest  and  most 
sacred  in  life!  If  we  only  had  hearts  to 
appreciate  the  religious  indifference  that 
lies  like  a  blight  upon  so  large  a  part  of  our 
population,  and  could  realize  that  these 
great  tasks  remain  unaccomplished,  and 
these  gigantic  evils  unremedied,  because 
there  has  not  been,  and  is  not  even  yet,  a 
united  Church,  how  rapidly  would  our  lit- 
tle differences  and  prejudices  give  way  be- 
fore these  mighty  motives  for  united  action  ! 
The  Church  has  lost  its  moral  leadership 
in  the  great  reforms  of  the  age  because  of 
its  divisions  and  internal  strifes.  That 
189 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


leadership  can  only  be  regained  by  closing 
up  its  divided  ranks  and  undertaking  seri- 
ously the  overthrow  of  these  great  moral 
evils  which  oppose  the  progress  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Every  cry  that  comes  -from 
the  desolate  heart  of  orphanage ;  every 
moan  of  anguish  that  comes  from  neglected 
widowhood  and  poverty ;  every  ruined  life 
and  wrecked  home  which  may  attribute  its 
downfall  to  the  open  saloon  and  the  gam- 
bling hell,  is  a  challenge  to  the  Church  to 
vindicate  its  divine  character  and  mission 
by  rising  to  the  needs  of  the  hour.  Every 
form  of  unbelief  and  of  practical  atheism 
which  defies  the  law  of  God  and  tramples 
under  its  unhallowed  feet  the  sacred  rights 
of  men,  and  all  false  "isms,"  philosophies 
and  cults,  that  draw  men  away  from  the 
feet  of  Christ,  are  so  many  calls  to  the 
Church  to  rise  to  the  height  of  its  great 
opportunity  and  obligation.  All  this  wide- 
spread corruption  that  has  tarnished  the 
fair  fame  of  our  nation  and  people,  tin's 
mammon  worship  and  public  and  private 
graft,  is  an  awful  impeachment  of  the 
fidelity  of  the  Church  in  molding  the  lives 
and  characters  of  men. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  external  mo- 
190 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


tives,  in  the  great  world  without,  which  ap- 
peal with  convincing  power  to  the  life 
within  the  Church  to  organize,  mobilize 
and  unify  its  forces  to  meet  these  needs. 
Once  the  Church  comes  to  realize  the  mag- 
nitude of  its  responsibilities  for  the  per- 
formance of  these  great  tasks,  how  gladly 
would  we  all  join  hands  with  our  brothers 
who  differ  with  us  in  some  things,  but  who 
agree  with  us  in  many  more  things,  in  or- 
der that  we  may  work  together,  as  far  as 
possible,  for  the  overthrow  of  Satan's  king- 
dom and  for  bringing  in  the  triumphant 
reign  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ! 

Just  before  the  great  naval  conflict  in 
which  England  was  to  measure  the  strength 
of  her  navy  against  that  of  another  nation. 
Lord  Nelson  said  to  two  of  his  high  offi- 
cers who  were  at  enmity  with  each  other, 
as  he  placed  their  hands  together,  "Be 
friends ;  yonder  is  your  enemy !"  Is  not 
Jesus  Christ  to-day  seeking  to  put  the 
hands  of  his  divided  Church  into  his  own 
wounded  palm,  and  saying  to  all  his  follow- 
ers, "Be  ye  friends :  yonder  are  your  ene- 
mies ?" 

Lift  us,  lift  all  thy  Church,  oh  Lord,  to 
this  Mount  of  V  ision,  that  we  mav  see  the 
191 


CHRIST  I, IX  UNION 


world  and  its  needs,  as  thou  seest  them,  and 
send  it  forth,  a  united  and  consecrated 
force,  to  minister  to  human  need,  and  sub- 
due this  whole  earth  to  thy  glorious  and 
beneficent  reign ! 

HOW    SHALL    THE    UNION    OF  CHRISTIANS 
COME  ABOUT? 

If  our  premises  have  been  true  in  the 
preceding  articles,  and  the  unity  of  Chris- 
tians is  rendered  certain  by  the  operation 
of  the  law  of  life  within  the  Church,  and 
by  the  mighty  motives  from  without  which 
appeal  to  the  inner  law  of  life,  the  question 
still  obtrudes  itself,  how  is  it  to  come 
about?  Indeed,  there  are  those  who  lay  so 
much  stress  upon  the  how  of  Christian 
union  that  they  become  skeptical  about  the 
fact,  because  they  do  not  understand  all  the 
process.  When  certain  Christians  of  Paul's 
day  asked,  "How  are  the  dead  raised  and 
with  what  manner  of  body  do  they  come?" 
the  apostle  replied,  with  a  little  sharpness, 
"Thou  foolish  one,  that  which  thou  thyself 
sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die :  and 
that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not 
the  body  that  sb*U  be,  but  the  bare  grain, 
192 


THE    PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some  other 
kind ;  but  God  giveth  it  a  body  even  as  it 
pleased  him.  and  to  each  seed  a  body  of  its 
own." 

There  is  an  implication  in  this  reply  of 
the  apostle  that  it  is  a  very  foolish  thing 
for  a  Christian  to  doubt  the  possibility  of 
God's  carrying  out  his  promises  to  us,  or 
his  purposes  concerning  us.  because  we  can 
not  see  just  how  he  will  do  it.  or  just  what 
we  shall  be  when  he  has  done  it.  Would 
not  the  same  great  Christian  philosopher,  if 
he  were  on  earth  to-day,  reply  to  the  ques- 
tion which  is  so  often  raised,  "How  will 
Christian  union  come  about,  and  what  will 
the  united  Church  be  like?"  in  very  much 
the  same  way?  We,  of  course,  know  more 
about  the  process  of  Christian  union  than 
that  of  the  resurrection,  because  the  latter 
is  wholly  God's  work,  while  in  the  matter 
of  Christian  union  we  are  to  co-operate 
with  God.  The  things  revealed  to  us,  how- 
ever, relate  to  what  manner  of  Christians 
we  are  to  be,  how  we  may  cultivate  the 
spirit  of  unity,  and  in  what  essential  ele- 
ments Christian  unity  consists.  There  re- 
mains much  left  for  faith,  as  to  what 
changes  God  is  going  to  lead  his  people 
(13)  193 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


through  in  order  to  their  unification,  and 
the  exact  nature  of  the  form  which  that 
union  shall  take.  If,  however,  there  be  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit,  God  will  give  it  a  body 
as  it  pleaseth  him.  But  there  can  be  no 
unity  of  body,  or  outward  organization 
worth  the  having  that  does  not  result  from 
unity  of  Spirit.  The  latter,  therefore,  is  the 
matter  of  chief  concern. 

There  are  some  things,  however,  that  are 
reasonably  sure  concerning  the  nature  of 
that  union  that  shall  be.  We  call  attention 
to  a  few  of  these  characteristics : 

1.  The  union  must  be  vital,  not  mechan- 
ical. It  must  grow  ;  it  can  not  be  manu- 
factured. There  can  be  no  union  among 
Christ's  followers  except  as  they  are  united 
with  him  and  share  in  his  life  and  enter 
into  fellowship  with  his  plans  and  purposes. 
We  may  promote  its  growth  by  deepening 
the  spiritual  life  and  by  removing  obstacles 
out  of  the  way;  but  we  may  not  force  it, 
or  seek  to  hasten  it  beyond  the  law  of 
spiritual  development. 

2.  It  must  be  Christian  union.  That  is 
to  say,  Christ  must  be  the  center  of  it  and 
the  circumference  of  it.  He  must  be  su- 
preme, and  no  man  must  divide  authority 

194 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


with  him.  A  division  in  authority  is  cer- 
tain to  perpetuate  existing  divisions  and 
may  result  in  new  ones.  It  is  only  by  fol- 
lowing a  common  master  that  we  can  have 
unity  ;  and  it  is  only  by  following  Christ 
as  that  Master  that  we  can  have  Christian 
unity.  "Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay 
than  that  is  laid  which  is  Jesus  Christ." 

3.  The  union  which  Christ  prayed  for 
and  which  is  essential  to  the  world's  con- 
version, is  not  the  union  of  denominations, 
having  differing  creeds,  tests  of  fellowship, 
party  names  and  party  ambitions.  Fed- 
eration is  not  Christian  union,  though  we 
believe  it  is  an  important  step  in  that  direc- 
tion. We  owe  it  to  the  Christ  who  prayed 
for  the  unity  of  his  followers,  that  in  so  far 
as  we  have  attained  to  unity  in  faith  and 
purpose  and  doctrine,  we  seek  to  manifest 
it  to  the  world  in  such  co-operation  as  that 
unity  makes  possible ;  but  we  must  not  mis- 
take the  co-operation  of  distinct  denomina- 
tional bodies  for  Christian  union,  as  Jesus 
prayed  for  it. 

4.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  Christian  union  is 
not  to  come  about  by  any  one  religious  body 
absorbing  all  other  religious  bodies.  No 
doubt  that  hope  is  cherished  by  many  in 

195 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


almost  all  the  religious  bodies  of  Chris- 
tendom, but  it  is  a  hope  destined  never  to 
be  realized.  Such  a  union  would  be  both 
impracticable  and  undesirable.  No  re- 
ligious body  in  Christendom  is  organized 
on  a  basis  to  adequately  utilize  and  direct 
the  religious  forces  of  Christendom  and 
administer  wisely  its  vast  interests.  If  his- 
tory teaches  anything,  it  teaches  that  this 
is  not  God's  method  of  bringing  about 
Christian  union.  No  doubt  he  has  a  more 
excellent  way  which  in  time  will  commend 
itself  to  the  approval  of  all  his  real  follow- 
ers. If  we  may  judge  from  the  history  of 
the  past  what  the  divine  plan  of  bringing 
about  that  unity  of  Christians  is  to  be,  it  is 
their  gradual  approximation  to  a  common 
divine  standard,  in  which,  as  they  come 
nearer  to  that  standard,  they  necessarily 
come  nearer  to  each  other.  That  is  the 
process  which  we  see  going  on  before  our 
eyes  and  we  have  no  right  to  suppose  that 
any  different  plan  is  to  be  adopted.  There 
will  be  a  growing  consciousness  of  the 
evils  of  division,  which  is  only  partially  re- 
alized as  yet ;  a  growing  sense  of  the  need 
of  unity,  together  with  a  clearer  recogni- 
tion among  various  religious  bodies  ot  the 
196 


THE   PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


truths  they  already  hold  in  common.  With 
the  growth  in  Christian  knowledge  and  in 
spiritual  discernment  there  will  come  new 
estimates  of  spiritual  values,  and  a  read- 
justment of  doctrinal  conceptions  more  in 
harmony  with  the  mind  of  Christ,  which 
will  open  the  way  for  continuous  progress 
toward  unity.  Denominational  peculiarities 
will  shrink  to  their  proper  dimensions, 
while  the  great  fundamentals  of  Christian 
faith  and  character  will  rise  to  their  true 
places,  and  this  will  bring  the  whole  body 
of  believers  into  closer  fellowship  and  co- 
operation. This  process  is  to  be  mightily 
stimulated  by  the  free  intermingling  of 
Christians  and  their  working  together  for 
common  ends. 

5.  Christian  union,  when  it  comes,  will 
not  be  uniformity.  There  will  be  room  in 
it  for  differences  of  opinion,  different 
methods  of  work  and  worship,  different 
forms  of  organization  and  different  degrees 
of  emphasis.  No  other  sort  of  union  is 
possible  among  a  free  people,  nor  would  it 
be  desirable.  Life  everywhere  takes  on  a 
variety  of  forms,  and  it  must  be  so  in  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Nature  furnishes  us 
infinite  variety,  and  yet  underlying  it  all  is 
197 


CHRISTIAN  UNION 


a  wonderful  unity.  But  we  must  get  rid  of 
the  notion  that  this  variety  of  opinions  and 
freedom  of  action  within  the  limitations  of 
the  spirit  and  teaching  of  Christ  involves 
separate  and  distinct  religious  denomina- 
tions. That  idea  belongs  to  the  childhood 
period  of  the  Church.  We  are  coming 
more  and  more  to  understand  that  if  we 
have  the  common  faith  that  unites  us  to 
Christ,  that  makes  us  obedient  to  him,  we 
may  hold  differences  of  opinion,  and  work 
and  worship  in  different  ways,  without  in- 
terfering with  our  oneness  in  Christ  or  our 
fellowship  with  each  other.  How  far  de- 
nominational lines  will  be  obliterated,  and 
present  forms  of  organization  modified,  in 
order  to  the  realization  of  New  Testament 
unity,  is  a  question  which  would  be  an- 
swered differently  by  persons  occupying 
different  points  of  view;  but  one  thing,  we 
think,  may  be  said  with  assurance,  and 
that  is  that,  in  so  far  as  our  existing  denom- 
inationdlistn  interferes  with  the  freest  and 
fullest  fellowship  between  Christians,  and 
with  their  hearty  co-operation  in  advanc- 
ing the  kingdom  of  Cod  by  the  diversion 
of  resources  for  purely  sectarian  purposes, 
or  by  confusing  the  minds  of  those  without 

198 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


by  our  differing  names  and,  creeds,  it  must 
give  way  to  that  unity  of  faith  and  purpose, 
of  spirit  and  life  that  subordinates  every- 
thing else  to  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth. 

when  Christ's  prayer  for  unity  is  ful- 
filled. 

It  is  not  given  to  mortals  to  know  with 
certainty  the  results  of  events  which  lie  yet 
in  the  future.  And  yet  in  the  light  of  rea- 
son and  of  revelation  we  may  forecast, 
with  reasonable  certainty,  some  of  the  re- 
sults which  would  follow  the  fulfillment  of 
our  Lord's  prayer  for  the  oneness  of  his 
followers.  We  shall  undertake,  in  these 
concluding  paragraphs,  to  state  some  of  the 
probable  results  which  would  follow  the" 
realization  of  this  much-to-be-desired  con- 
summation. 

i.  Tt  would  enrich  every  part  of  the  now 
divided  church  by  bringing  all  into  the  pos- 
session of  a  common  inheritance  of  truth 
and  of  historic  experience,  which  belongs 
to  the  several  parts.  No  longer  would  men 
say,  "I  am  of  Luther,"  or  "I  am  of  Cal- 
vin," or  "I  am  of  Wesley,"  or  "I  am  of 
Campbell,"  but  all  of  us  would  realize  that 
199 


CHRIST  I.  IX 


UNION 


"all  things"  are  ours,  whether  Paul  or  Apol- 
los  or  Cephas  or  Luther  or  Calvin  or  Wes- 
ley or  Campbell — all  are  ours  and  that  we 
are  Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  to  exaggerate  the  value 
of  this  larger  and  better  equipment  which 
would  come  from  each  part  of  the  Church 
sharing  in  the  truth  and  experience  of  the 
whole  Church.  It  would  round  out,  and 
render  more  symmetrical,  our  uneven  de- 
velopment, remedy,  to  a  good  degree  at 
least,  our  religious  lopsidedness,  bring  into 
use  a  great  many  neglected  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  give  us  a  feeling  of  catholicity 
and  breadth  of  fellowship  which  would 
mightily  strengthen  and  quicken  the  zeal 
of  the  entire  Church. 

2.  It  would  enrich  every  part  of  the 
Church  in  the  wider  circle  of  Christian  fel- 
lowship and  acquaintanceship.  How  our 
denominational  barriers  separate  us  from 
each  other  and  make  us  strangers  one  to 
another !  How  many  noble  spirits  there 
are  in  the  religious  bodies  all  about  us,  to 
come  in  contact  with  whom,  in  Christian 
fellowship  and  service,  would  be  an  inspira- 
tion to  our  lives!  How  comforting  and 
strengthening  would  be  the  thought  that 
200 


THE   PERIOD   OF  REUNION 


these  pure  and  noble  men  and  women  are 
our  brothers  and  sisters,  fighting  under  the 
same  banner  with  us  and  following  the  same 
Leader !  How  sectarianism  has  impover- 
ished the  Church  by  erecting  unauthorized 
barriers  between  its  members,  and  thus 
robbing  each  part  of  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  wealth  which  belongs  to  the  entire 
body! 

3.  It  would  give  a  mighty  and  irresist- 
ible impulse  to  all  the  missionary  move- 
ments of  the  Church.  Freed  from  the  task 
of  building  up  denominational  walls  and 
carrying  on  a  denominational  propaganda, 
the  united  Church  could  devote  itself,  with 
singleness  of  aim  and  with  concentrated 
power  and  resources,  to  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  world.  How  our  missionaries 
in  foreign  lands,  and  even  in  the  outposts 
of  our  own  country,  would  rejoice  to  know 
that  the  Church  had  healed  its  divisions 
and  that  they  were  all  representatives  of 
a  united  Church,  and  could  work  together 
as  brothers  without  any  sense  of  competi- 
tion or  denominational  jealousy !  How 
much  more  effective  would  their  message 
be  to  the  heathen  world,  if  the  foreign  mis- 
sionaries could  say  to  pagan  peoples,  "We 
201 


CHRIST  I, IX  UXION. 


all  represent  the  one  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
on  earth,  and  all  we  ask  of  you  is  to  become 
followers  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Xazarene." 
Xo  longer  would  these  heathen  converts  be 
confused  by  our  denominational  titles  and 
tenets,  nor  discouraged  by  divisions  among 
Christians  the  meaning  of  which  they  can 
not  understand.  A  zeal  for  world-wide 
evangelization  would  sweep  over  the 
Church,  and  men  and  means  would  be 
furnished  in  abundance  to  supply  the  needs 
of  pagan  lands.  How  the  heart  of  Christ 
would  rejoice  to  see  his  Church  rising  at 
last  to  a  conception  of  the  magnitude  and 
urgency  of  the  great  task  he  has  laid  upon 
it !  Upon  the  Church  thus  awakened  and 
thus  undertaking  in  earnest  at  last  the  work 
which  he  has  committed  to  it,  he  would 
pour  out  the  fullness  of  his  blessing  and 
fulfill  his  ancient  promise  in  a  measure  that 
we  now  little  dream  of — "Lo  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

4.  The  influence  of  such  a  moral  miracle 
as  the  reunion  of  a  divided  Church  would 
be  incalculable.  It  would  stop  the  mouths 
of  infidels  and  gainsayers.  It  would  set 
at  naught  the  wisdom  of  the  agnostic.  It 
would  silence  the  scoffer  and  the  religious 
202 


THE    PERIOD    OF  REUNION 


pessimist.  It  would  remove  the  chief  stum- 
bling-block that  is  keeping  thousands  of 
thoughtful  men  and  women  out  of  the 
Church.  It  would  prevent  that  pitiable  and 
pathetic  spectacle  of  divided  families — hus- 
bands and  wives,  parents  and  children,  be- 
longing to  different  churches  and  separated 
from  each  other  in  the  highest  and  most 
sacred  things  of  life.  It  would  unite  thou- 
sands of  weak  churches,  in  small  towns, 
now  competing  with  each  other,  fill  the 
prayer-meeting  room  with  earnest  and  en- 
thusiastic workers,  where  now  only  a  few 
discouraged  ones  meet  to  lament  the  spirit- 
ual leanness  of  the  Church,  and  all  depart- 
ments of  the  Church  work  would  feel  the 
thrill  of  a  new  life  and  new  strength. 

5.  In  the  new  strength,  and  enthusiasm 
horn  of  union,  the  Church  would  resume 
its  lost  leadership  in  the  great  moral  and 
social  reforms  of  the  times,  and  undertake, 
as  it  has  never  undertaken  before,  to  heal 
many  of  our  social  ills,  care  more  sys- 
tematically and  wisely  for  the  poor  and  the 
needy,  devote  its  attention  to  the  rescue 
of  the  submerged  part  of  the  population  of 
our  great  cities,  concentrate  its  forces 
against  the  legalized  saloon,  gambling 
203 


CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


houses  and  other  demoralizing  agencies, 
lend  its  influence  to  the  settlement  of  dis- 
putes between  labor  and  capital,  put  a  check 
upon  inordinate  greed,  and  inculcate  ra- 
tional methods  of  living,  safe  forms  of 
amusement,  wiser  methods  of  punishment, 
and  whatever  else  relates  to  the  moral  and 
material,  welfare  of  the  people.  No  more 
would  it  be  said  to  the  scandal  of  the 
Church  that  it  is  so  engrossed  with  its  theo- 
logical dogmas  and  its  ecclesiastical  millin- 
ery and  ritualism,  as  to  be  oblivious  to  the 
practical  needs  of  suffering  and  toiling  men 
and  women  all  about  them. 

6.  Engaged  in  the  practical  work  of  help- 
ing humanity,  the  Church  would  get  closer 
to  its  Master,  formalism  would  give  place 
to  real  personal  piety,  and  devotion  to  hu- 
man good  would  absorb  the  energies  erst- 
while devoted  to  theological  disputes  and 
denominational  strifes.  Under  this  sort  of 
regime  the  Church  would  recruit  its  ranks 
from  a  class  of  people  who  now  stand  aloof 
from  its  fellowship,  and  would  receive  from 
them  the  very  kind  of  service  which  it 
would  need  to  fit  it  for  its  new  vocation. 

7.  The  daily  press  of  the  world,  together 
with  all  other  forms  of  literature,  would 

204 


THE    PERIOD    OF   REUS  ION 


give  vastly  more  attention  to  religious  sub- 
jects and  to  the  great  enterprises  of  the 
Church  when  once  the  Church  has  become 
a  united  body,  working  for  the  redemption 
of  humanity.  Every  one  knows  that  it  is 
the  spirit  of  jealousy  among  different  de- 
nominations that  keeps  the  press  from  giv- 
ing as  great  publicity  to  religious  gatherings 
and  their  actions  as  to  other  kinds  of  meet- 
ings in  which  all  the  people  are  interested. 
This  aid  of  the  press  would  be  a  powerful 
adjunct  in  carrying  forward  the  interests  of 
the  kingdom. 

8.  Finally,  who  can  doubt  for  a  moment 
that  there  would  be  joy  in  the  presence  of 
God  and  among  the  angels  of  heaven  and 
all  celestial  intelligences,  over  the  blessed 
consummation  of  a  united  Church?  The 
father-heart  of  God  would  thrill  with  joy 
to  see  all  his  children  loving  one  another 
and  working  unitedly  together  to  lift  the 
world  to  a  higher  moral  and  spiritual  level. 
The  angels,  who,  we  are  told,  rejoice  "over 
one  sinner  that  repenteth,''  so  deeply  are 
they  interested  in  human  affairs,  would 
sing  a  new  hallelujah  chorus  over  a  united 
Church,  making  possible  the  repentance  of 
the  whole  world.  That  part  of  the  Church 
205 


CHRISTIAN  UN  I  OX 

which  has  "crossed  the  flood"  and  is  glori- 
fied, would  join  in  die  general  jubilation. 
How  deep  and  pure  would  be  the  joy  of 
these  redeemed  saints,  to  see  the  Church 
militant  close  its  divided  ranks  for  a  con- 
certed movement  to  bring  in  the  reign  of 
the  Church  triumphant !  We  know  what 
joy  would  thrill  the  hearts  of  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  devout  souls  on  earth  who  are 
praying,  with  their  Master,  that  our  sec- 
tarian divisions  may  be  healed,  and  the 
Church  become  one  in  spirit,  faith  and 
obedience,  if  this  splendid  victory  were 
achieved.  A  new  note  of  triumph  and  op- 
timism would  enter  into  all  our  sermons, 
our  songs,  and  our  prayers,  and  we  should 
begin  to  have  here  on  earth  a  blessed  fore- 
taste of  the  fellowship  of  heaven.  Surely 
an  achievement  that  would  bring  joy  to 
the  heart  of  God,  to  the  angels,  and  to  all 
the  good  of  earth,  is  worthy  of  our  labors, 
our  prayers,  our  sacrifices  and  our  tears. 
That  it  will  one  day  be  realized,  no  more 
admits  of  doubt,  as  it  seems  to  us,  than  the 
ultimate  success  of  the  divine  purpose  of 
God  in  sending  Christ  into  the  world.  In- 
deed, these  are  not  separate  things,  but 
parts  of  the  same  great  purpose.  He  who 
Z06 


THE    PP.RIOD    OF  REUNION 


said,  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  ail  men  unto  me,"  will  ful- 
fill his  mission.  He  is  being-  "lifted  up" 
to-day  in  sermon,  in  song,  in  art,  in  litera- 
ture, in  government,  and  in  an  advancing 
civilization,  as  never  before.  He  is  draw- 
ing all  men  unto  himself  as  never  before. 
He  will  yet  draw  his  followers  into  unity, 
and  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  lay 
their  honors  at  his  feet ! 


207 


Date  Due 


N  2  2  '<£ 

9 

